Active Multispectral Illumination and Image Fusion for Retinal Microsurgery

It has been shown that white light exposure during retinal microsurgeries is detrimental to patients. To address this problem, we present a novel device and image processing tool, which can be used to significantly reduce the amount of phototoxicity induced in the eye. Our device alternates between illuminating the retina using white and limited spectrum light, while a fully automated image processing algorithm produces a synthetic white light video by colorizing non-white light images. We show qualitatively and quantitatively that our system can provide reliable images using far less toxic light when compared to traditional systems. In addition, the method proposed in this paper may be adapted to other clinical applications in order to give surgeons more flexibility when visualizing areas of interest.