An optical technique for monitoring chorioretinal temperature during transpupillary thermotherapy

The aim of this study is to explore the possibility of correlating the temporal fluctuations of scattered light intensity from the chorioretinal tissue during Transpupillary Thermotherapy and the temperature of the irradiated tissue. The chorioretinal tissue is a mixture of macromolecules that either are rigidly fixed into a structural matrix or can move. The possible motions are induced by the blood flow and by the temperature. Therefore, by analyzing the scattered intensity fluctuations induced by the molecules motion, the retinal tissue temperature can be recovered. In this paper, we present the theory supporting this idea and the results of a preliminary experimental activity performed on enucleated bovine eyes.