Photoplethysmographic analysis of retinal videodata based on the Fourier domain approach

Assessment of retinal blood flow inside the optic nerve head (ONH) and the peripapillary area is an important task in retinal imaging. For this purpose, an experimental binocular video ophthalmoscope that acquires precisely synchronized video sequences of the optic nerve head and peripapillary area from both eyes has been previously developed. It enables to compare specific characteristics of both eyes and efficiently detect the eye asymmetry. In this paper, we describe a novel methodology for the analysis of acquired video data using a photoplethysmographic approach. We describe and calculate the pulsatile attenuation amplitude (PAA) spatial map, which quantifies the maximum relative change of blood volume during a cardiac cycle using a frequency domain approach. We also describe in detail the origin of PAA maps from the fundamental (the first) and the second harmonic component of the pulsatile signal, and we compare the results obtained by time-based and frequency-based approaches. In several cases, we show the advantages and possibilities of this device and the appropriate image analysis approach - fast measurement and comparison of blood flow characteristics of both eyes at a glance, the robustness of this approach, and the possibility of easy detection of asymmetry.