Nidek Inc. announced the commercial launch of the Mirante Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (SLO) to the U.S. market.
Let’s start with this company.
Founded in 1971 in Gamagori, Japan—with U.S. headquarters in San Jose, California—Nidek is a manufacturer of equipment designed for diagnosing and treating vision-impairing diseases.
The company’s portfolio includes ophthalmic diagnostic equipment, customized refractive surgery tools, and ophthalmic lasers for an array of conditions within the cataract, cornea, glaucoma, and retina spaces.
See here for a complete list.
Now this product.
As a multimodal fundus imaging platform, the Mirante incorporates ultra wide-field (UWF) imaging with two technologies:
- High-definition SLO
- Optical coherence tomography (OCT)
Using these components, it captures the following:
- High-quality color images
- Fluorescein angiography (FA)
- Indocyanine green angiography (ICG)
- Fundus autofluorescence (FAF)
- Retro mode images (I’ll explain below)
- OCT
How many images does it take to capture these?
Just one single image capture.
Really?
Yup! Per Nidek, a 163° field of view (FOV) provides clinicians with a wide, detailed evaluation of pathologies via the platform’s wide-field adapter—all with just one single image capture from the fovea to the far periphery of the retina.
Gotcha. Now explain this Retro mode.
This modality is a non-invasive technique for visualizing pathologies that run deeper than the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) as well as identifying and locating disease-based changes in the choroid, per Nidek.
Let’s zero in on FA and ICG for a moment.
The company touts that Mirante can record dynamic blood flow using both FA and ICG, and can also simultaneously acquire the image.
Further, a live internal reflectance (IR) monitoring allows for alignment before fluorescence emission (and, as a result, reduces the risk of missing the detection of an early angiography phase).
What’s the OCT scan area?
OCT images can be taken for a maximum 16.5 x 12 mm area.
This can enable wide area diagnosis—specifically including the macula and optic disc—while the SLO’s “ultra-fine” mode and tracing HD plus function produce images for a more detailed observation from the vitreous layers to the choroid.
Of note, the platform also includes an anterior segment OCT adapter (with multiple options).
And what kind of imaging quality?
A combination of 4,096 x 4,096 pixels with ultra 4K HD.
This creates a wider and enhanced view of the retinal structure and vasculature with “unparalleled clarity,” according to Nidek.
How is image distortion managed?
Mirante features a new algorithm (called Flex Track) that can adjust image distortions resulting from unstable fixation as well as enhance “image averaging quality”—a digital image processing technique for enhancing images that have been corrupted by random noise.
What about color imaging?
Three separate RGB detectors are designed to concurrently scan different depths of the retina with varying wavelengths (red, green, and blue).
Lastly… where can I purchase this?
Contact a Nidek sales representative by clicking here.