What does hyper reflective and hypo reflective mean in OCT?

What does hyper reflective and hypo reflective mean in OCT?

• A. Hyper reflective means light bounces back; hypo reflective means light is absorbed or passes through.
• B. Hyper reflective means layers are thicker; hypo reflective means thinner.
• C. Hyper reflective means higher frequency; hypo reflective means lower frequency.
• D. Hyper reflective means color scale mapping; hypo reflective means grayscale.

Answer: (A)

Think of OCT images as maps of how much light is bounced back from each tiny slice of tissue. The brightness at a point reflects how strongly that tissue backscatters light. Hyperreflective areas are those that send a lot of light back to the detector, so they appear bright on the image. Hyporeflective areas send less light back, so they look darker. This difference comes from the microstructure and scattering properties of the tissue, not from how thick a layer is or what color is used to display the image. So hyperreflective means strong backscatter (bright), and hyporeflective means weak backscatter (dark).

Think of OCT images as maps of how much light is bounced back from each tiny slice of tissue. The brightness at a point reflects how strongly that tissue backscatters light. Hyperreflective areas are those that send a lot of light back to the detector, so they appear bright on the image. Hyporeflective areas send less light back, so they look darker. This difference comes from the microstructure and scattering properties of the tissue, not from how thick a layer is or what color is used to display the image. So hyperreflective means strong backscatter (bright), and hyporeflective means weak backscatter (dark).