JPH09122077A - Method of photographing optional part in direction of axis of eye to be inspected in ophthalmological camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method which enables photographing of not only the epithelium and endothelium of a cornea and the top surface and rear surface of a lens but also a part therebetween optionally by allowing altering and setting of a part to be photographed in the direction of an eye axis in an ophthalmological camera in which a photographing system is moved in the direction of the eye axis after alignment to detect a photographing position for automatically photographing. SOLUTION: A photographing system 3 in which a slit luminous flux is projected to an eye to be inspected and reflected light from an eye part thereof is observed or photographed by a TV camera 8 from the direction at an angle to the axis 10 of illumination light is moved in the direction of the eye axis of the eye to be inspected. During the movement of the photographing system 3 in the direction of the eye axis, reflected light admitted sequentially into a photoreceptive element 30 for detecting position provided on the photographing system 3 is selected and used as position detection signal and a display on a menu is changed by operating a mouse 40 for the menu on a screen of a monitor 33 beforehand to select and set a part. The part thus obtained and an optional part on the eye axis further displaced from the part are photographed by light emitted from a strobe 13. Thus, expanded taken images of the parts are written into a frame memory 32 to be displayed on the monitor 33.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is for selecting and photographing an arbitrary region on the eye axis of an eye to be examined in an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus, such as a corneal surface of the eye to be examined, a crystalline lens surface, or an upper surface of an installed intraocular lens. Regarding shooting method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art To see the effects of contact lenses,
It is necessary to observe the state of corneal endothelium in pre- and post-treatment of cataract surgery, and conventionally, for the purpose of magnifying observation or taking a magnified photograph of corneal endothelial cells of the eyeball of the subject, the eyeball of the subject's eye On the other hand, the objective lens of the microscope is a non-contact type or a contact type, and slit illumination light is radiated toward the observation area obliquely to the eye axis to separate the reflected light from the corneal surface and the image light rays of the endothelial cells. There is used a device in which the corneal endothelial cells in the test area are photographed by a television camera or the like. With these devices, although the corneal endothelium can be observed and photographed, the corneal epithelial cells cannot be magnified and photographed. Therefore, the present applicant pays attention to this point, and the applicant previously filed Japanese Patent Application No. 5-294177 ( According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-75624), not only corneal endothelial cells but also a corneal epithelial cell, which has been difficult in the past, can be easily photographed by wearing a predetermined contact lens on the eye to be photographed. We have proposed a corneal cell imaging device that can do this.

[0003]

As described above, it has become possible to magnify and observe corneal endothelial cells or corneal epithelial cells with a single device, but a desired site can be selected from a wide range in the axial direction of the eye to be examined. That is, at present, there is no one that can automatically and selectively photograph the corneal epithelium, the corneal endothelium, the upper surface of the lens, the rear surface of the lens, and the like. The present invention has been made based on such a situation, the corneal epithelium, so that the imaging site in the axial direction of the eye to be examined can be arbitrarily changed and set,
Not only can images of the corneal endothelium, the upper surface of the crystalline lens, the posterior surface of the crystalline lens, and the upper surface of the attached intraocular lens be taken, but also in the area between them, it is possible to automatically set the imaging site and automatically capture images in the ophthalmic imaging device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for photographing an arbitrary part of the eye examination in the axial direction of the eye.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, in an imaging method of an arbitrary portion of an eye to be inspected in an eye axis direction in an ophthalmologic imaging apparatus of the present invention, an illumination optical system for projecting a slit light beam on the eye to be inspected. And an observation and photographing optical system for observing and photographing an eye part image by reflected light of the illuminated part by the slit light flux of the eye to be examined from a direction having an angle with the projection optical axis. Direction, and while the photographing system is moving in the axial direction of the eye, the reflected light sequentially incident on the position detecting light receiving element attached to the observation and photographing optical system is selected and used as the position detection signal, and the eye axis of the eye to be inspected. The method is to take an image of an arbitrary part of the direction.

At this time, prior to photographing, the X.
After manually performing alignment in the Y direction, a slit light beam is projected onto the eye to be inspected by the illumination optical system, and the imaging system is moved or advanced toward the corneal apex in the axial direction of the eye. The reflected light of each eye on the eye axis sequentially enters the signal receiving element for position detection, which is in a certain relation with the shooting screen attached to the optical system to detect the shooting position. can get. That is, signals of the upper surface of the cornea (epithelium) are obtained at the first (1st), the corneal endothelium at the second (2nd), the upper surface of the crystalline lens at the third (3rd), and the posterior surface of the crystalline lens at the fourth (4th) (see FIG. 6). Therefore, by selectively using these signals as the position detection signals of the imaging system, it is possible to image a desired part of the subject's eye in the axial direction of the eye.

When the slit optical flux is projected onto the subject's eye by the illumination optical system, the projection optical axis is set to an angle between 25 ° and 15 ° with respect to the eye axis direction so that the upper surface and the rear surface of the crystalline lens are photographed. It is effective for The reason will be described below. FIG. 8 shows optical paths of projected light and reflected light when photographing the crystalline lens, with the irradiation angle being changed. In FIG. 8 (A), the photographing position is the crystalline lens upper surface, and FIG. Indicates the case where the imaging location is on the rear surface of the crystalline lens. Also on the back of the cornea 2
42 The iris 41 located in front of the iris 41 has a central pupil diameter of about 4 mm in a bright room with non-mydriasis. Since each projection optical axis (10 ° to 30 °) indicating the angle of the slit luminous flux has a luminous flux of a predetermined width sandwiching the optical axis, as is clear from FIG. 8 (B). It is understood that, in order to image the rear surface of the lens 42 with a non-mydriasis, the projection light is obstructed by the iris 41 unless the irradiation angle is less than 25 ° (for example, 30 °).

Further, the angle of the projection light axis of the slit light beam is 15
When the angle is less than °, the reflected light from the rear surface of the lens approaches the reflected light from the upper surface of the lens when photographing the rear surface of the lens [Fig. 8 (B)].
On the other hand, when photographing the upper surface of the crystalline lens, the reflected light from the upper surface of the crystalline lens approaches the reflected light from the corneal epithelium and is affected by the reflected light from the posterior surface of the crystalline lens (see FIG. 8 (A)). Since it has a width, the reflected light from the inspected part (imaging part) is obstructed during imaging of the lens surface. Therefore, when photographing the lens surface such as the front surface and the back surface of the lens 42, by setting the projection optical axis of the slit light between 25 ° and 15 ° with respect to the eye axis direction, it is possible to satisfactorily observe with a non-mydriatic pupil in a bright room. It was possible to take a picture, which was in good agreement with the experiment and could be confirmed.

Further, the position detection signal of the selected photographing system (this corresponds to the position detection signal of the observation and photographing optical system) and the displacement position in the eye axis direction of the observation and photographing optical system detected by using this as a starting point. In combination, by detecting the photographing position of the observation photographing optical system and photographing, it is possible to photograph anywhere on the eye axis other than the selected corneal surface or crystalline lens surface.

In this case, the observation / photographing optical system is provided with a movement amount detecting means (encoder or the like) for continuously detecting the movement amount in the axial direction of the eye. It is advantageous to detect the axial displacement and take a picture. FIG. 7 shows a case in which an encoder is used to count the pulses from the encoder and detect the amount of movement that advances the imaging system in the axial direction from the selected epithelial imaging position, which is the first detection position, for imaging. However, the selected position may be anywhere, and for example, the amount of movement from the upper surface of the crystalline lens can be detected to photograph an arbitrary position inside the crystalline lens.

If the detected variable position of the observation / photographing optical system in the axial direction is selected and set from a plurality of preset variable positions, the selective photographing of an arbitrary part of the eye to be examined in the axial direction is promptly performed. It is possible to improve the imaging efficiency of the arbitrary part.

On the other hand, it is possible to use a method in which the relative position between the detection position of the position detecting light receiving element and the image forming position of the observation / photographing optical system is optically shifted to perform photographing. In this case, the relative relationship between the optical path to the position detection light receiving element where the image light of the eye to be inspected from the eye to be inspected by the slit light is separated by the mirror and the optical path to the photographing screen is optically determined from the conjugate relationship. By changing the image forming position of the observation / photographing optical system when the position detection signal is detected in the eye axis direction, when the reflected light of each part on the eye axis enters the position detecting light receiving element, You can change what is imaged.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A method for photographing an arbitrary portion of an eye to be inspected in an ophthalmic photographing apparatus according to the present invention includes an illumination optical system for projecting a slit light beam on the eye to be inspected, and an illumination portion of the eye to be inspected by the slit light beam. Move the imaging system consisting of the observation and imaging optical system that observes and shoots the eye part image by the reflected light from the direction that has an angle with the projection optical axis,
It is used in an ophthalmologic imaging apparatus configured to image a subject by using a signal of reflected light incident on a light receiving element such as PSD attached to the observation and imaging optical system while the imaging system is moving in the axial direction of the eye. Next, an embodiment of the photographing method will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an optical path diagram showing an embodiment of the method of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electric circuit of the embodiment.

In FIG. 1, an illumination optical system for projecting a slit light beam onto an eye spherical surface 2 of an eye to be inspected 1 and an index light for alignment for aligning a photographing optical axis toward the eye to be inspected and the eye to be inspected portion thereof. The anterior ocular segment observation optical system configured to capture the reflected light from the anterior ocular segment image together with the anterior ocular segment image with the anterior ocular segment observation optical system based on the slit projection light projected on the ocular spherical surface. Through the television camera 8, there is shown a photographing system 3 including an observation photographing optical system having a magnifying photographing optical system for performing magnifying observation or photographing of a subject's eye, and the photographing system 3 is an anterior eye. The XY direction perpendicular to the paper surface orthogonal to the optical axis 4 of the partial observation optical system and the Y direction which is the vertical direction of the paper surface can be manually moved.
It is moved in the Z direction, which is the direction of the optical axis 4 of the observation optical system, by a Z axis drive mechanism described later.

As an illumination light source for the portion to be inspected of the eye spherical surface 2, an illumination lamp 11 used for detecting a photographing position by the observation and photographing optical system and a strobe discharge tube 13 used for photographing a magnified photograph of cells in the portion to be inspected are illumination lamps. Condensing lens 12 for the light emitted by 11
The light of the illumination lamp 11 is converted by the visible light transmitting / infrared light reflecting mirror 15 so that the infrared light of the illumination lamp 11 becomes While being reflected, the light (visible light) of the stroboscopic discharge tube 13 is arranged so as to pass through the mirror 15 and be focused at the position of each slit 16. In this case, a visible light cut filter is inserted in the optical path between the illumination lamp 11 and the visible light transmitting / infrared light reflecting mirror 15 as needed, and the optical path between the strobe discharge tube 13 and the condenser lens 14 is inserted. Insert an infrared light cut filter into. The light that has passed through the slit 16 passes through the projection lens 17 through the cornea 2 or the crystalline lens of the subject's eyeball 1 from the oblique direction, by the illumination light from the illumination lamp 11 when the photographing position of the photographing system 3 is detected, and by the strobe light when photographing. The projection is performed at a predetermined angle with respect to the eye axis 4.

In the optical system for observing the anterior segment of the eye for aligning the photographing system 3, the beam splitter is sequentially located at a predetermined position from the front on the optical axis 4 of the anterior segment observing optical system which should be located on the eye axis. 5, anterior ocular segment photographing lens 6, and the optical axis 4
Infrared light transmitting / visible light reflecting mirror 7 intersecting with 45 ° is arranged, and an anterior eye image is formed on CCD light receiving surface 9 in front of television camera 8 behind by anterior eye part photographing lens 6, Near-infrared light for optical axis alignment (alignment) of a photographing system described later is projected and imaged.

On the opposite side of the projection optical axis 10 of the illumination optical system and the optical axis 4 of the anterior ocular segment observation optical system, oblique illumination of the illumination lamp 11 or strobe discharge tube 13 for the eyeball portion is performed. A magnified photographing optical system for aligning the photographing position of the photographing system 3 is provided while magnifying observation or magnifying photography of eye cells of the examined portion by receiving reflected light of a light beam, and magnified photographed image of the examined portion. Is imaged on the CCD light receiving surface 9 on the front surface of the television camera 8 and also on the position detecting light receiving element (PSD) 30 described later. That is,
An objective lens 19 on the eyeball side, and from the objective lens 19 at a predetermined position on an optical axis 18 that is symmetrical to the projection optical axis 10 of the illumination optical system while sandwiching the optical axis 4 of the anterior segment observation optical system. The mirror 20 intersects with the optical axis 18 at a predetermined distance and crosses the image ray of the reflected light of the projection light from the eyeball portion at a predetermined position on the optical axis 4 of the anterior ocular segment observation optical system. The image light beam, which is arranged so as to be bent as described above, is reflected by the mirror 20 and passes through the field stop 21 and the imaging lens 22 to form the optical axis 4 of the observation optical system.
The visible light from the strobe light in the magnified image light is totally reflected by the infrared light transmitting / visible light reflecting mirror 7 intersecting at 45 °,
An image is formed on the CCD light receiving surface 9 of the television camera 8 as a magnified photographed image of eye cells on the surface to be observed, and infrared light of the magnified image light beam passes through the infrared light transmitting / visible light reflecting mirror 7. An image is formed on a position detecting light receiving element (PSD) 30 which will be described later.

On the other hand, in the anterior segment observation optical system, the anterior segment observation optical system is fixed to the subject from the side of the beam splitter 5 on the optical axis 4 in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis 4. A fixation target light for presenting a target and a near-infrared light which is an alignment light for matching the eye axis and the optical axis 4 are made incident, and these rays are directed to the anterior segment observation optical system. It is adapted to travel on the optical axis 4 and enter the eye spherical surface 2. That is, the light-emitting diode 23 of near-infrared light that is alignment light and the light-emitting diode 24 of blinking visible light that is fixation target light at the predetermined positions on the side of the anterior ocular segment observation optical system are the optical axes of the respective rays. Is arranged so as to be parallel to the optical axis 4 of the observation optical system, and the near-infrared light from the near-infrared light-emitting diode 23 is condensed by a condenser lens 25, a mirror 26, near-infrared light reflection / visible light transmission. After passing through the mirror 27, the mirror 28, and the condenser lens 29, the light is reflected by the reflecting surface in the beam splitter 5, and the anterior ocular segment observation optical system optical axis 4
It is designed to be incident on the upper surface of the eye, and blinking visible light from the light emitting diode 24 of blinking visible light passes through the near infrared light reflecting / visible light transmitting mirror 27 and is similar to the near infrared light. After passing through the mirror 28, the condenser lens 29, and the beam splitter 5, the light travels on the optical axis 4 of the anterior ocular segment observation optical system and enters the eye spherical surface 2.

The optical axis 18 of the magnifying and photographing optical system is bent by a mirror 20 so that the CCD light receiving surface 9 of the television camera 8 is located on the optical axis orthogonal to the optical axis 4 of the anterior ocular segment observation optical system.
And an eye to be inspected based on the slit projection light at a conjugate position with respect to the reflection surface of the infrared light transmitting / visible light reflecting mirror 7 arranged to intersect the optical axis 4 of the anterior segment observation optical system by 45 °. Position-sensing light-receiving element (PSD) to detect the shooting position
30 is provided, the illumination optical system, the near-infrared light of the alignment index light and the anterior ocular segment observation optical system provided with means for projecting visible light of the fixation target to the eye to be examined and the Imaging system 3 including observation and imaging optical system with magnifying imaging optical system
However, when moving forward in the direction of the subject's eye, the magnifying photographing optical system sequentially detects the photographing positions of the corneal epithelium, the corneal endothelium, the upper surface of the crystalline lens, and the posterior surface of the crystalline lens.

C, which is the image plane of the television camera 8,
The image receiving signal obtained from the image formed on the CD light receiving surface 9 is input to the image input / output control circuit 31 shown in the block diagram of FIG. Next, at the time of optical axis alignment (alignment) on the screen of the monitor display 33 which receives the video signal from the control circuit 31, the reflected light of the near-infrared light for alignment from the eye spherical surface 2 together with the anterior segment image. The light spot is displayed, and the imaging system 3 is manually operated in X and Y after the mode for selecting the eye to be inspected, which will be described later, is set.
It is possible to check the alignment status when the optical axis is aligned with the eye to be inspected by moving in the direction.

When the subject is photographed, a photographing mode of the subject to be described later is set, and then the photographing system 3 is aligned to perform photographing. That is, after checking the alignment, the doctor who is the examiner presses the photographing button of the control panel (not shown) connected to the image input / output control circuit 31 to send an electric signal from the image input / output control circuit 31 in the Z direction. The Z-axis drive mechanism 36 is operated by a drive signal from the Z direction position control circuit 34 by inputting it to the position control circuit 34, and the photographic system 3, specifically, the gantry on which the photographic system 3 is mounted is moved from the initial standby position. The forward movement is started toward the eye spherical surface 2 of the eye to be inspected. Simultaneously with the start of the forward movement, the illumination lamp 11 is turned on to start the forward movement toward the eye spherical surface 2. Simultaneously with the start of the forward movement, the illumination lamp 11 is turned on to project the infrared slit light toward the spherical surface 2 of the eye, and the photographing of the eye to be examined by the magnifying photographing optical system is started.

On the other hand, a mouse 40 is connected to the monitor display 33, and the mouse 43 is operated before photographing to operate the menu 43 at one corner of the monitor screen (for example, the lower right of the monitor screen).
(See FIG. 5), the imaging region can be selected. That is, in the menu 43, the characters "AUTO" and the two small triangles "△" and "▽" are displayed in a predetermined rectangular division, and the mouse 40 is operated to display the monitor screen. The shooting position can be arbitrarily selected by moving the icon such as the arrow on the menu display and turning on the mouse button at that position and clicking.
In this embodiment, when "AUTO" is selected, the character "AU" is selected.
"TO" changes to 2, and if you continue clicking, the character will be [2] → [3] → [4] → [1] → [2] with each click.
The upper surface of the cornea (epithelium) in [1] becomes [2]
The corneal endothelium is selected, the crystalline upper surface is selected in [3], and the crystalline posterior surface is selected in [4], so that the photographing mode can be set.

On the other hand, when photographing an arbitrary part other than the selected part, the small triangle display "△" or "▽" is displayed.
When you select and click, the character "AUTO" becomes a three-digit number, and after clicking, hold the button to display "△".
When it is, it changes from 000 to 256, and when it is "▽", it is 256 to 00
It changes to 0, and when you release the button, the number will stop, and the number you stopped setting on menu 43,
The position counted from the upper surface of the cornea can be set as the photographing position. In this case, in this embodiment, the upper surface of the cornea is used as the starting point of counting because detection of the upper surface of the cornea is reliable. However, other site detection may be used as the starting point of counting. At this time, the menu "AUTO"
By changing the display to a display of a desired portion, for example, [3] on the upper surface of the crystalline lens, the variable position can be set with the upper surface of the crystalline lens as the starting point of counting. Thus, the photographing mode can be set at any part on the eye axis.

After the photographing mode is set as described above, the photographing form 3 is aligned and then the photographing button is pressed to move the photographing form 3 toward the eye to be photographed. At this time,
As the imaging form 3 advances in the direction of the eye 1 to be inspected, the magnified image light beam (infrared ray) due to the reflected light from each eye part on the eye axis of the eye 1 to be inspected is passed through the optical path of the magnifying imaging optical type to detect the position. Light is sequentially input to the light receiving element 30, and a light reception signal from the light receiving element 30 is input to the slit light reflection detection circuit 37 to detect the first focus position by the upper surface of the cornea (epithelium) and the second focus position by the corneal endothelium. The detection, the third focus position detection by the upper surface of the crystalline lens, and the fourth focus position detection by the rear surface of the crystalline lens are sequentially performed. That is, each eye part on the eye axis is detected from the peak of the signal generated by the position detection light receiving element 30 in the above order. At this time, the signal from the slit light reflection detection circuit 37 which detects the imaging region set in the slit light reflection detection circuit 37 via the image input / output control circuit 31 by the selection operation on the menu 43 of the mouse 40 is Z. Input to the directional position control circuit 34 to input the Z-axis drive mechanism.
36 stops the movement of shooting form 3.

At the same time as the movement of the photographing type 3 is stopped, a strobe light emission control circuit is generated by a signal from the slit light reflection detection circuit 37.
37 is activated and the strobe discharge tube 13 emits light (at this time, the near-infrared light emitting diode 23 has finished alignment, and is turned off), and the reflected light from the subject's eye is passed through the optical path of the magnifying imaging optical system to reach the subject. An enlarged image of the optometry portion is formed on the light receiving surface of the television camera 8, and a video signal of the enlarged cell image of the subject's eye portion from the television camera 8 is written from the image input / output control circuit 31 to the frame memory 32. The enlarged image is displayed on the monitor display 33. Further, the cell magnified image of the eye to be inspected automatically taken in this way can be read out from the frame memory 32 by the image input / output control circuit 31 if necessary, and can be launched from the video printer 35. An image print (photograph) of the selected eye cell magnified image can be attached to the chart.

In the case of photographing an arbitrary part other than the selected part, in this embodiment, after holding the small triangle "△" or "▽" in the menu 43 of the monitor by operating the mouse 40, the held button is released. Then, the changing number on the menu is stopped at a predetermined number, and the photographing position is set by being displaced by an arbitrary amount from the corneal upper surface photographing position. After this setting, the Z-axis drive mechanism 36 is operated by pushing the photographing button after the XY alignment in the same manner as described above, and the photographing system 3 is started to advance from the initial standby position toward the eyeball 2 of the eye to be examined. The Z-direction movement amount detector 39 such as an encoder attached to the photographing system 3 detects the amount of forward movement of the photographing system 3 by pulse counting the amount of displacement of the photographing system 3 in the axial direction. At this time, the displacement amount of the imaging system 3 after detecting the imaging position of the upper surface of the cornea which is the detection imaging site set in the slit light reflection detection circuit 37 by the mouse 40 via the image input / output control circuit 31 is counted. A signal from the Z-direction movement detector (encoder) 39 is input to the Z-direction position control circuit 34, and the drive of the Z-axis drive mechanism 36 is stopped by the signal from the Z-direction position control circuit 34 to move the imaging system 3. At the same time, the strobe light emission control circuit 38 is operated to cause the strobe discharge tube 13 to emit light, and the photographing can be automatically performed at the photographing position where the set number is displaced from the photographing position on the upper surface of the cornea.

Next, an operation procedure for selecting a desired portion of the eye to be inspected in the axial direction of the eye to be automatically photographed by the photographing system 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this case, preparation for imaging of the subject's eye (mode setting) is performed prior to imaging. Steps 101 to 105 show a procedure for selectively setting which part on the eye axis of the subject's eye to be imaged. First, operate the mouse 40 to display the monitor display 33
"AUTO" is selected and clicked on the menu 43 displayed in one corner (lower right of the screen) of the screen (hereinafter referred to as the monitor 33) (step 101). Then, the character display of "AUTO" changes to the number "2" (step 2). When the click is continued (step 103), the number sequentially changes with each click (2) → [3] → [4] → [1] → [2] (step 104). At this time, [1] is the upper surface of the cornea,
[2] means the corneal endothelium, [3] means the upper surface of the lens, and [4] means the rear surface of the lens. Therefore, the required number is selected and displayed on the menu 41 (step 105). As a result, the imaging region on the eye axis is determined. For example, if [4] is selected, the imaged region will be the posterior surface of the crystalline lens (see FIG. 5).

After setting the region to be photographed in this manner, the near infrared light emitting diode 2 of the photographing system 3 for alignment.
3. The visible light emitting diode 24 is turned on, and the subject is instructed to fix the blinking visible light from the visible light emitting diode 24, which is the fixation target, to fix the subject, and the television 33 is displayed on the screen of the monitor 33. The image of the anterior segment of. Then, the light point of the corneal reflection image of the alignment index light is adjusted in height by operating the jaw base to which the head of the subject is fixed, and the handle of the imaging system 3 mounted on the gantry in the XY directions is operated. For example, the monitor 33 is moved to a predetermined position (center) on the photographing screen and alignment of the photographing system 3 in the X and Y directions with respect to the subject's eye is performed (step 106).

After the completion of the alignment, when the photographing button is pressed (step 107), the Z axis is driven and the photographing system 3 is advanced (step 108). While the imaging system 3 is moving forward, the slit light reflection detection circuit 37 detects the slit reflected light sequentially entering the PSD (light receiving element for position detection) 30,
Each eye position on the eye axis, that is, the peak of the light amount of the slit light reflection from the upper surface of the cornea, the corneal endothelium, the upper surface of the crystalline lens, and the posterior surface of the crystalline lens is sequentially detected, and the peak is selected and displayed on the menu 41. When the desired photographing position is detected (step 109), the drive of the Z axis is stopped (step 110),
At the same time as stopping the forward movement of the shooting system 3, the strobe is turned on to shoot with the TV camera 8, and the frame memory
A cell magnified image of the selected site on the ocular axis is written to 32, and a cell magnified image of the site is displayed on the monitor 33 (step 111), and the photographing ends (step 112). At this time, when the posterior surface of the crystalline lens is selected as the imaging region, a cell enlarged image of the posterior surface of the crystalline lens is displayed on the screen of the monitor 33, and the number “4” is displayed as the imaging region in the menu 41 of the screen. .

Next, the operation procedure for advancing the imaging system 3 in the direction of the eye to be imaged and imaging the site where the upper surface of the cornea has been moved by an arbitrary amount as the starting point of pulse counting by the encoder 39 attached to the imaging system 3 will be described. A description will be given based on the flowchart shown in FIG. Steps 201 to 20 in FIG.
4 shows a procedure for selecting and setting a photographing position which is displaced from the corneal upper surface photographing position on the eye axis of the eye to be examined by an arbitrary amount and preparing for photographing (mode setting). First, the mouse 40 is operated to select and click the small triangle display "△" or "▽" on the menu 43 displayed in one corner or the like of the monitor screen (step 20).
1). Then, the character display of "AUTO" is changed to a three-digit number (step 202). If you continue to press the button, it will change from 000 to 256 when "△" and 25 when "▽".
The number changes from 6 to 000 (step 203), and when the desired predetermined number is displayed, releasing the button stops the number (step 204). As a result, the imaging site on the eye axis is determined by the imaging position displaced from the corneal upper surface imaging position by a predetermined amount.
For example, if the number display is 055 and the button is released, the change in the display with the number stops (see FIG. 5), and the imaging region is the first
From the corneal upper surface imaging position which is the th slit light detection position
55 pulses are counted and set in the imaging region according to the position where the imaging system has advanced (see FIG. 7).

After the imaged region is set in this manner, the X-Y direction alignment of the image capturing system 3 is performed in the same manner as in the case where the required No. is selected from the four imaged regions described above and the image is captured (step 205). , Press the shooting button (step 206).
As a result, the Z axis is driven and the photographing system 3 is advanced (step 207). The first from the slit reflected light that sequentially enters the PSD (light receiving element for position detection) 30 during this shooting
After the imaging position on the upper surface of the cornea, which is the peak of the second peak of light intensity, is detected and the encoder 39 counts the pulse of the set number (step 208), the driving of the Z axis is stopped (step 209), and the imaging is performed. At the same time the advance of system 3 stops,
Let the flash fire and shoot with the TV camera 8,
A magnified image of the imaging region on the eye axis at the imaging position displaced by a predetermined amount by pulse counting from the corneal upper surface imaging position is written to the frame memory 32, and the enlarged image of the region is displayed on the monitor (step 210). finish. At this time, the number 055, which is the amount of advancement of the imaging position, is displayed as the imaging site displaced from the upper surface of the cornea.

As described above, according to the photographing method of the present invention,
An illumination optical system for projecting a slit light flux onto the eye to be inspected, and an observation and photographing optical system for observing and photographing the eye image by the reflected light of the illuminated portion by the slit light flux of the eye to be inspected from a direction having an angle with the projection optical axis. By moving the imaging system consisting of and in the axial direction of the eye to be inspected, it is possible to select and detect the required parts such as the corneal surface and the crystalline lens surface from a wide range in the axial direction, and automatically perform imaging. The upper surface of the lens can be detected and photographed, and as is clear from the above description, even in a portion where the detection signal cannot be taken out, the photographing mode can be arbitrarily set and photographed automatically.

[0032]

According to the method of photographing an arbitrary portion of the eye to be inspected in the ophthalmic photographing apparatus of the present invention according to claim 1, after alignment, the photographing system which is the optical unit is moved in the eye axis direction. It is used in an ophthalmologic imaging device that detects the imaging position with a light-receiving element for position detection and takes an image, and the corneal upper surface of the eye to be examined, corneal endothelium, crystalline lens upper surface, crystalline lens posterior surface, or intraocular lens upper surface, etc. Select a wide range,
It can be taken automatically.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, by specifying the projection angle of the slit light flux with respect to the eye axis in the ophthalmic photographing apparatus, it is difficult to photograph the front and rear surfaces of the lens with a non-mydriasis. It is possible to automatically and easily take a good picture.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to automatically take an image even in a portion where the detection signal cannot be taken out on the eye axis of the eye to be inspected by the ophthalmic image taking apparatus.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the imaging of the part where the detection signal cannot be taken out, the movement amount detecting means such as an encoder is used to detect the upper surface of the cornea or the like from the imaging position to the axial direction of the imaging system. It is possible to easily detect and set the displacement amount of and to photograph easily.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the amount of displacement in the axial direction from the photographing position at which the detection of the detection signal cannot be extracted is detected by using the movement amount detecting means such as an encoder to detect the upper surface of the cornea. When setting a photographing system and photographing, it is possible to quickly select and set the displacement amount in the eye axis direction from a plurality of displacement amounts set in advance, and it is possible to improve the photographing efficiency.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the relative position between the position detected by the light receiving element for position detection and the image forming position by the image pickup system is optically shifted, and the image is picked up. When reflected light from each part on the eye axis is incident, it is possible to easily form an image of the part displaced on the eye axis from each part on the photographing screen for photographing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an optical path diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for automatically detecting a desired part on the eye axis by automatically detecting it.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for setting an amount of displacement of the imaging system from the upper surface of the cornea to perform imaging.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram when selecting an imaging region before imaging.

FIG. 6 is a relationship diagram between the order of detection of image capturing positions and the imaged region of the subject's eye.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which a displacement amount is set based on a detected upper corneal (epithelial) imaging position and imaging is performed.

FIG. 8 is an optical path diagram of slit projection light and reflected light when photographing an upper surface of a lens and a rear surface of a lens.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Eyeball (eye to be examined), 2 ... Corneal (eye spherical surface), 3 ... Imaging system, 4 ... Anterior ocular segment observation optical system optical axis, or eye axis, 5 ...
Beam splitter, 6 ... Anterior ocular segment photographing lens, 7 ... Infrared light transmitting / visible light reflecting mirror, 8 ... Television camera,
9 ... CCD light receiving surface, 10 ... Illumination optical axis, 11 ... Illumination lamp,
13 ... Strobe discharge tube, 15 ... Visible light transmitting / infrared light reflecting mirror, 16 ... Slit, 18 ... Magnifying optical system optical axis,
19 ... Objective lens, 22 ... Imaging lens, 23 ... Near infrared light emitting diode, 24 ... Visible light emitting diode, 30 ...
Position detection light receiving element, 32 ... Frame memory, 33 ... Monitor display, 36 ... Z-axis drive mechanism, 37 ... Slit light reflection detection circuit, 38 ... Strobe light emission control circuit, 39 ... Z direction movement amount detector, 40 ... Mouse, 41 ... Pupil, 42 ... Lens, 43 ... Menu.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An illumination optical system for projecting a slit light beam on an eye to be inspected, and an eye image by reflected light of an illumination site of the eye to be inspected by the slit light beam is observed from a direction having an angle with a projection optical axis.
An imaging system including an observation and imaging optical system for imaging is moved in the axial direction of the eye to be inspected, and while the imaging system is moving in the axial direction, a position detection light receiving element attached to the observation and imaging optical system is used. A method of photographing an arbitrary portion of an eye to be inspected in an eye axis direction in an ophthalmologic image pickup apparatus, wherein the sequentially incident reflected light is selected and used as a position detection signal to photograph an arbitrary portion of the eye to be inspected in the eye axis direction. 2. The ophthalmologic imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the projection optical axis of the illumination optical system for projecting the slit light flux on the eye to be examined forms an angle of 25 ° to 15 ° with respect to the eye axis direction. A method for photographing an arbitrary part of the eye to be examined in the axial direction of the eye. 3. A combination of the selected position detection signal and the amount of displacement of the observation and photographing optical system in the eye axis direction detected by using this as a starting point to detect the photographing position of the observation and photographing optical system for photographing. The method for photographing an arbitrary part of an eye to be inspected in the eye axis direction in the ophthalmic photographing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The observation / photographing optical system is provided with a movement amount detecting means for continuously detecting the movement amount in the eye axis direction, and the displacement amount detecting means displaces the observation / photographing optical system in the eye axis direction. The method for imaging an arbitrary part of an eye to be inspected in the ophthalmic imaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the imaging is performed by detecting the amount. 5. The eye to be inspected in the ophthalmic photographing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the detected displacement amount of the observation and photographing optical system in the axial direction of the eye is selectively set from a plurality of displacement amounts set in advance. Method of photographing any part of the eye axis direction. 6. The ophthalmologic image taking apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the relative position between the detection position of the position detecting light receiving element and the image forming position of the observation and photographing optical system is optically shifted to perform photographing. A method for photographing an arbitrary part of the eye to be examined in the axial direction of the eye.