OCTAVA: An open-source toolbox for quantitative analysis of optical coherence tomography angiography images

Gavrielle R Untracht; Rolando S Matos; Nikolaos Dikaios; Mariam Bapir; Abdullah K Durrani; Teemapron Butsabong; Paola Campagnolo; David D Sampson; Christian Heiss; Danuta M Sampson

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0261052

OCTAVA: An open-source toolbox for quantitative analysis of optical coherence tomography angiography images

PLoS One. 2021 Dec 9;16(12):e0261052. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261052. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
² Surrey Biophotonics, Advanced Technology Institute, School of Physics and School of Biosciences and Medicine, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Biochemical Sciences and Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, School of Biosciences and Medicine, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom.
⁴ Mathematics Research Center, Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece.
⁵ Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, East Surrey Hospital, Redhill, Surrey, United Kingdom.
⁶ Surrey Biophotonics, Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing and School of Biosciences and Medicine, The University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) performs non-invasive visualization and characterization of microvasculature in research and clinical applications mainly in ophthalmology and dermatology. A wide variety of instruments, imaging protocols, processing methods and metrics have been used to describe the microvasculature, such that comparing different study outcomes is currently not feasible. With the goal of contributing to standardization of OCTA data analysis, we report a user-friendly, open-source toolbox, OCTAVA (OCTA Vascular Analyzer), to automate the pre-processing, segmentation, and quantitative analysis of en face OCTA maximum intensity projection images in a standardized workflow. We present each analysis step, including optimization of filtering and choice of segmentation algorithm, and definition of metrics. We perform quantitative analysis of OCTA images from different commercial and non-commercial instruments and samples and show OCTAVA can accurately and reproducibly determine metrics for characterization of microvasculature. Wide adoption could enable studies and aggregation of data on a scale sufficient to develop reliable microvascular biomarkers for early detection, and to guide treatment, of microvascular disease.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Algorithms*
Forearm / blood supply
Forearm / diagnostic imaging*
Hand / blood supply
Hand / diagnostic imaging*
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
Microvessels / diagnostic imaging*
Middle Aged
Signal-To-Noise Ratio
Tomography, Optical Coherence / methods*

Grants and funding

GRU received funding from the IPRS (University of Western Australia) and the Rank Prize Covid-19 response fund. RSM and AKD are supported by the Doctoral College studentship award (University of Surrey). CH and DMS received funding from the Higher Education Innovation Funding, Industrial Strategy Internal Funding (University of Surrey). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.