JP2005261450A - Ophthalmologic photographing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus which inhibits photographing of images not suitable for diagnostic reading of a medical checkup. <P>SOLUTION: The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus is provided with an illumination means for illuminating the fundus oculi of an eye to be examined, an image pickup means for picking up a fundus oculi image illuminated by the illumination means, and a left and right eye distinction detection means for detecting the distinction of left and right eyes of the eye to be examined. A position equivalent to the optic disk of the eye to be examined is detected on the basis of the detected left and right eye information on the eye to be examined and a presentation position by a fixation target presentation means, and the quality of the photographed image is judged from the image picked up in the image pickup means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus such as a fundus camera used in a health checkup such as a group checkup or a medical checkup.

  Conventionally, fundus examinations have been performed in group medical examinations such as resident medical examinations and company medical examinations. In the past, fundus photography with only one eye was performed, but in recent years, in view of the situation where findings may appear in other eyes that have not been examined, right-and-left binocular photography has been performed.

  Non-mydriatic photography that does not require a mydriatic agent is usually performed in fundus photography during a group medical examination. Non-mydriatic imaging is performed by darkening the inside of the examination room or shielding the eye head to be examined from room light by using a simple dark room or the like to promote natural mydriasis of the eye to be examined.

At the time of photographing, in order to guide the eye to be examined, a fixation target arranged in the optical system is presented to the eye to be examined. Usually, the range for imaging in the health check is performed at a position where the optic nerve head and the macula are evenly arranged as shown in FIG.
JP-A-10-323327

  In group medical examinations, many subjects need to be photographed in a short time, so the photographer presents them with too much effort to focus on focusing and focusing so that unnecessary light does not enter. In many cases, it was neglected to check whether the fixation target was being watched.

  In addition, due to the characteristics of the medical examination, the subjects were many elderly people, and it was difficult to confirm the fixation target, and even when the line of sight was not fixed, it was seen on a daily basis.

  In the fundus image taken under such circumstances, the necessary information may not be captured, and the interpreting doctor may miss the findings of the subject.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus that solves the above-mentioned problems and prohibits photographing of an image that is not suitable for interpretation of a health checkup.

  In order to achieve the above object, an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to the present invention includes an illuminating unit that illuminates the fundus of the eye to be examined, an imaging unit that captures a fundus image illuminated by the illuminating unit, and a left-right eye distinction between the eye to be examined. Based on the detection results by the left and right eye distinction detection means, the fixation target presentation means for guiding the eye of the eye to be examined, the detection results by the left and right eye distinction detection means, and the presentation position by the fixation target presentation means. An optic disc equivalent position detection unit for detecting an optic disc equivalent position of the optometry, a detection result by the optic disc equivalent position detection unit, and an image taken by the imaging unit are determined from the detection result by the imaging unit. Pass / fail judgment means.

  As described above, the ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to the present invention is configured to detect the position corresponding to the optic nerve head and determine the quality of the photographing part of the fundus of the eye to be examined from this position information. Therefore, there is an effect that a large amount of fundus photographing can be performed accurately and quickly.

(Example)
The present invention will be described in detail with reference to apparatus configuration diagrams and flowcharts shown in FIGS.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 2, steps 1 to 3 indicate processing performed by the photographer, and steps 4 to 6 indicate processing performed internally by the apparatus.

  FIG. 1 shows an apparatus configuration diagram of an embodiment, where 1 is an observation / alignment light source such as a lamp, 2 is a visible cut filter that transmits infrared light, 3 is a condenser lens, and 4 is a still light source such as a strobe light source. Light source, 5 is a relay lens, 6 is a perforated mirror, E is an eye to be examined, 7 is an objective lens, 8 is an anterior ocular segment observation lens inserted into the optical path for anterior ocular segment observation, and 9 is a lens having a focusing function System 10 is a flip-up mirror with the right end in the drawing as the axis, and the left side jumps upward, 11 is a photographic sensor unit, 12 is a lens, 13 is an observation sensor unit, 14 is an observation image monitor, and 15 is a primary image. A memory for storing, a monitor 16, a fixation target position detection unit 17, a left and right eye detection unit 18, and a determination warning unit 19 for determining whether or not an imaging region is appropriate and for giving an instruction such as a warning.

  When energized by operating a power switch (not shown), the anterior ocular segment observation lens 8 is inserted into the optical path under the control of a drive control unit (not shown). Further, the anterior eye part of the eye E is illuminated by infrared light emitted from an infrared light source (not shown) for illuminating the anterior eye part, and the reflected light from the anterior eye part passes through the objective lens 7, The anterior eye observation lens 8, the hole of the perforated mirror 6, and the lens system 9 are reflected by the flip-up mirror 10 and guided to the observation sensor unit 13 via the lens 12. The anterior ocular segment observation image photoelectrically converted by the observation sensor unit 13 is displayed on the observation image monitor 14.

  The photographer uses an anterior ocular segment observation image on the observation image monitor 14 to move an optical unit (not shown) including the objective lens to align the anterior ocular segment to be examined (step 1).

  When the alignment of the anterior ocular segment to be examined is completed, an anterior ocular segment / fundus switching switch (not shown) is pressed. As a result, under the control of a drive control unit (not shown), the anterior ocular segment observation lens 8 is detached from the optical path, and the observation / alignment light source 1 is turned on.

  Illumination light emitted from the observation / alignment light source 1 is converted into light having a wavelength only in the infrared region by the visible cut filter 2, and then passes through the condenser lens 3 and the relay lens 5 to the perforated mirror 6. The light is reflected by the mirror and passes through the objective lens 7 to illuminate the fundus of the eye E. The reflected light from the fundus passes again through the objective lens 7, passes through the hole of the perforated mirror 6 and the lens system 9, is reflected by the flip-up mirror 10, and is guided to the observation sensor unit 13 via the lens 12. . The fundus observation image photoelectrically converted by the observation sensor unit 13 is displayed on the observation image monitor 14.

  Further, a fixation target (not shown) for guiding the line of sight of the eye to be examined is presented to the eye to be examined.

  Using the fundus oculi observation image displayed on the observation image monitor 14, the photographer aligns and adjusts the focus on the imaging region of the eye fundus of the eye to be examined (step 2).

  When the alignment of the fundus of the eye to be examined is completed, the photographer takes an image of the eye to be examined with a photographing switch (not shown) (step 3).

  First, the still image photographing light source 4 is turned on, and the illumination light from the still image photographing light source 4 is reflected by the mirror portion of the perforated mirror 6 via the relay lens 5, passes through the objective lens 7, and then the eye E is examined. Illuminate the fundus of the eye. Reflected light from the fundus is again passed through the objective lens 7, through the hole of the perforated mirror 6 and the lens system 9, and the bounce-up mirror 10 is bounced up to the imaging sensor unit 11, and the memory 15 Is temporarily stored.

  When the imaging is completed, the apparatus detects the position corresponding to the optic nerve head of the eye to be examined by the judgment warning unit 19 (step 4).

  In the fundus examination in a medical checkup, it is necessary to have one image per eye so that it can be interpreted in a short time as described above. Therefore, as shown in FIG. I do. For this reason, if there is a fixation target position that specifies the position of the macular portion and left-right eye distinction information, it is possible to determine the position where the optic papilla should originally be.

  A fixation target for fixing the line of sight of the eye to be examined is presented at a position in the composition of FIG. 3, and the position of the fixation target is detected by the fixation target position detection unit 17.

  On the other hand, the optic disc position of the eye to be examined is different between the left and right eyes, and is the right side (see FIG. 3) for the right eye and the left side for the left eye.

  The detection of the left and right eyes is determined by the left and right eye detection unit 18 from the state of the position detection switch of the optical base (not shown) including the optical system shown in FIG.

  When the state of the position detection switch indicates a position on the right eye side of the eye to be examined, the left and right eye detection unit 18 detects “right eye” and conversely indicates a position on the left eye side of the eye to be examined. If so, it is detected as “left eye”.

  The determination warning unit 19 specifies the position corresponding to the optic disc as shown in FIG. 4 based on the detection results of the fixation target position detection unit 17 and the left and right eye detection unit 18. FIG. 4 shows an example in the case of the right eye.

  Specifically, based on the detection results of the left and right eyes, the optic disc position is specified from the relationship between the optic disc position and the macular position as shown in FIG.

  In the above description, the case where the position corresponding to the optic nerve head is detected after imaging of the fundus of the eye to be examined has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be configured to detect before imaging. .

  Next, it is determined whether or not the optic nerve head of the eye to be examined exists at the position corresponding to the optic nerve head detected in step 4 (step 5).

  Since the optic papilla has extremely high reflectance compared to other retinal regions including the macula, the vicinity of the optic papilla equivalent position shown in FIG. 5 detected in step 4 in the fundus image primarily stored in the memory 15 A pixel value within the range is compared with a threshold value for extracting an optic papilla preset in a memory (not shown), and pixels that are equal to or greater than the threshold are extracted as the optic papilla.

  The range near the position corresponding to the optic nerve head indicates the range of the position corresponding to the optic nerve head in the imaging region that is considered effective in interpretation. Accordingly, normal interpretation is possible within the imaging range where the optic nerve head is present in this range.

  The range near the optic nerve head equivalent position is stored in advance in a memory (not shown) based on experience.

  If the result of determination in step 5 is that the optic nerve head of the eye to be examined exists at a position corresponding to the optic nerve head, the captured image is recorded on an image storage medium such as a hard disk, an MO disk, or a flash memory (not shown).

  On the other hand, if it does not exist, a warning message is displayed on the monitor 16 as shown in FIG. 6 (step 6).

  Note that, here, an example is described in which a warning message is displayed on the monitor 16 when there is no optic nerve head in the vicinity of the position corresponding to the optic nerve head equivalent position. Alternatively, the photographer may be warned by a buzzer or the like.

Device configuration diagram of the present invention Operation flow of the present invention Example of fundus image Example of detecting the optic disc equivalent position Example of the range near the optic disc equivalent position Example of warning display

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light source for observation / alignment 2 Visible cut filter 3 Condenser lens 4 Light source for still image photography 5 Relay lens 6 Perforated mirror 7 Objective lens 8 Anterior eye observation lens 9 Lens system 10 Bounce mirror 11 Shooting sensor unit 12 Lens 13 Observation sensor unit 14 Observation image monitor 15 Memory 16 Monitor 17 Fixation target position detection unit 18 Left and right eye detection unit 19 Judgment warning unit

Claims (3)

  Illuminating means for illuminating the fundus of the eye to be examined, imaging means for capturing a fundus image illuminated by the illuminating means, left-right eye distinction detecting means for detecting left-right eye distinction of the eye to be examined, and guiding the line of sight of the eye to be examined A fixation target presenting means, a detection result by the left and right eye distinction detection means, and an optic disc equivalent position detection means for detecting an optic disc equivalent position of the eye to be inspected based on a presentation position by the fixation target presentation unit; An ophthalmologic photographing apparatus comprising: a quality determination unit that determines a quality of an image captured by the imaging unit from a detection result of the optic disc equivalent position detection unit and an image captured by the imaging unit.   2. The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising warning display means for displaying a warning based on a determination result of the pass / fail determination means.   The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a recording method determination unit that determines whether or not to record an image captured by the imaging unit based on a determination result of the quality determination unit.

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