Optical coherence tomography of peripheral retinal lesions in enucleated human eye specimens with histologic correlation

PURPOSE: To report optical coherence tomography (OCT) histologic correlations of three common peripheral retinal lesions and to explore the feasibility of the use of OCT to image retinal pathologic conditions in fixed tissue specimens. DESIGN: Experimental study. METHODS: We studied peripheral retinal lesions that were available to us in 11 formalin-fixed caps of seven human eyes that had been enucleated previously for choroidal melanoma. OCT scans were performed through these lesions, and the images were correlated with corresponding histologic sections. RESULTS: Three peripheral retinal diseases that included cystoid degeneration, localized retinal detachment, and paving stone degeneration were imaged successfully, and their optical characteristics correlated well with their histologic data. CONCLUSION: We explored potential utility for OCT imaging of peripheral retinal pathologic conditions in fixed tissue specimens. That these OCT images correlate with findings from histologic sections suggests a possible role for OCT in the eye pathology laboratory.