Reverberant 3D optical coherence elastography maps the elasticity of individual corneal layers

The elasticity mapping of individual layers in the cornea using non-destructive elastography techniques advances diagnosis and monitoring of ocular diseases and treatments in ophthalmology. However, transient Lamb waves, currently used in most dynamic optical coherence and ultrasound elastography techniques, diminish the translation of wave speed into shear/Young’s modulus. Here, we present reverberant 3D optical coherence elastography (Rev3D-OCE), a novel approach leveraging the physical properties of diffuse fields in detecting elasticity gradients not only in the lateral direction, but also along the depth axis of the cornea. A Monte Carlo analysis, finite element simulations, and experiments in layered phantoms are conducted to validate the technique and to characterize the axial elastography resolution. Experiments in ex vivo porcine cornea at different intraocular pressures reveal that Rev3D-OCE enables the elastic characterization of single layers that matches the anatomical description of corneal layers with unprecedented contrast in the dynamic OCE field.