Ocular Coherence Tomography (OCT)
Ocular Coherence Tomography OCT to detect sperm in non-obstructive azoospermia – scanner attached to ached to operating microscope with scanned images sent to surgeons within seconds after scanning
Current Treatment for Non-Obstructive Azoospermia
Surgeons
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A. Cut open the fibrous covering of the testis
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B. Bivalve the tests
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C. Find tubule with sperm using visual cues
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D. Remove tubule, send to embryologist to find sperm
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E.C lose up testis
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This process may take many hours.
Our solution: Use Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to identify occult sperm
Diagram showing principles of OCT for detecting sperm in testis.
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•Light is split between blue (reference) and gold arms (samples).
•The OCT beam is scanned (s) over a sample.
•Light reflecting back from both arms is recombined and detected on a spectrometer based on a diffraction grating (g) and line scan camera (lsc).
OCT images sent back to the surgeons within seconds shortening time for surgeons to search for sperm in non-obstructive azoospermia
Color coded images to identify covering of testis (purple), tubule wall, and lumen containing sperm (yellow).
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(a)Normal testis
(b)Non-obstructive azoospermia testis where sperm was identified
(c)Non-obstructive azoospermia testis where no sperm was identified
(d)Non-obstructive azoospermia testis where sperm was identified
work.