A technology that can be used to check the retina while at home using a smartphone camera is under development
When
Diabetic retinopathy screening using smartphone-based fundus imaging in India
(PDF file) https://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(20)30463-2/pdf
Inexpensive retinal diagnostics via smartphone
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-inexpensive-retinal-diagnostics-smartphone.html
One of the complications that diabetes causes is retinopathy . The retina, which senses light with the eyes, is lined with numerous capillaries that supply oxygen and nutrients to photoreceptor cells.However, when blood vessels are damaged by diabetes, a large number of new, thin capillaries are created, and It may cause bleeding or detachment of the retina, and in the worst case, blindness may result.
'But in most cases, early treatment of retinopathy, such as laser treatment, can prevent blindness,' said Maximilian Wintergarst, an ophthalmologist at Rein Friedrich Wilhelm University Bonn Hospital. Of course, treatment requires lack of exercise and diet in order to suppress the progression of type 2 diabetes itself, but not only that, but regular screening that leads to early detection of retinopathy is also necessary.
While searching for a cheaper and easier method for retinal screening, the research team focused on smartphone cameras, which have made great strides in recent years. We converted the camera of the smartphone into an ophthalmoscope that can examine the inside of the eyeball in four different ways, and actually performed the optometry at Sankara Eye Hospital. As a result, 80% of retinal abnormalities could be detected with the method of attaching an additional lens adapter to the smartphone camera (D in the image below). In addition, it seems that 100% of the diagnosed retinas could be diagnosed.
By applying this technology, it becomes possible to diagnose with a smartphone, for example, 'At home, attach the lens module to the smartphone, shoot the eyes of yourself and your family, and send the image to the ophthalmologist via the Internet. The research team says that we can expect a screening method 'waiting for diagnosis'.
In addition, as the next stage, the research team is developing the application. It is said that the application under development can create an electronic medical record file that collectively encodes the image of the patient's retina taken with a smartphone and the diagnostic contents of the ophthalmologist. It is also envisioned to have the function of automatically detecting pathological changes that indicate diabetic retinopathy from images of the retina taken by image analysis using artificial intelligence.
'The new coronavirus infection created the need to find ways to reduce the number of patients visiting the hospital,' said Mahesh Shamgam, a co-author and doctor at Sankara Eye Hospital. It is promising to further improve the efficiency of screening. '
Related Posts:
