What the medical pros are doing is seeing if smartphone cameras can easily take pictures of of the eye with crystal clarity and then be used as a diagnostics tool.

So far a team at Stanford University has created a new developing technology called “EyeGo”, that they say is engineered to give ophthalmologists the ability to get clear pictures of a patient’s eyes by using just a smartphone and already existing ophthalmologic lenses. They had tried using adapters that could be placed on the smartphone onto what is called the slit lamp.  Unfortunately the team states that the process was cumbersome and ate up too much tie.  They needed a process that was quick, easy, and precise.

Now that smartphones have advanced in technological prowess as well as the lenses the doctors use, they feel they can now catch a pic of the retina by doing indirect ophthalmoscopy with just a smartphone and a 20 diopter lens.  They developed an adapter that holds the smartphone and lens stead  enough for proper alignment.

The team used the latest in 3D printing to engineer different adapter designs. Even so they’re still improving on this process so that every component can be created with 3D printing.  This allowed the team to take pics of the eye from all angles needed for better diagnostics and planning.

The entire process followed the standards of medical experimentation and procedure. The clinical studies look at all the diagnoses that would usually be done via ophthalmologists to detect the presence of diseases and so on.  Such as those with diabetes to determine if further treatments are needed.

The team went on to figure out what other things they needed to progress this technological adaptation including an HIPAA compliant means to label as well as organize the photos.

The “EyeGo” is basically to be used for triage as there are better technologies that the adapter, but for on the spot diagnostics, this can be quite useful.

What this all means is that there is a new way to do what ophthalmologists do best. It is a marriage of two or three different technologies that hadn’t come together before and thanks to the team at Stanford under Dr. Chang, have achieved a milestone that can not only help this field of medicine but several.  Being able to use a device as simple as a smartphone to help to diagnose patients on the spot is something of a monumental achievement to say the least.

It shows that medical professionals can match together various tools that might not see like they can be matched up for the benefit of all.

Ophthalmology is a precise science and anything that can help in the diagnosis and treatment of patients is highly welcomed.  This breakthrough by using smartphones, 3D printing and tried and true present technologies is a signpost to others in the medical industry to try new things, break down barriers and to think outside the box.  It’s not perfect, but it’s getting there.

As the ophthalmologists continue to work on the technologies, there’s no telling where they will end up in the short and long term.

Author Bio: Tony Rollan provides consulting services to VSI (http://www.patternless.com/) and he is an author of many articles on all types of optical and ophthalmic equipment. Author blogs about medicine, health, alternative healing, sport and wellbeing.

Image credit: About the Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine.

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The American Academy of Ophthalmologists (AAO) announced to launch a new application for smartphones during its yearly conference that was held in Chicago. The ophthalmic application for smartphones can help its users in measuring the acuteness of their condition or their near one. The application can also grade the acuteness of the condition in ophthalmology. According to a statement of the academy, the result of the study revealed that the less expensive method can be implemented to make the treatment accessible for those living in underserved or isolate region.

According to another statement, nearly 7.7 million individuals are affected by diabetic retinopathy. The risen level of sugar in blood has been found to be the cause of the ophthalmic issue in most of the cases. Increase in concentration of sugar in the eye leads to partial loss of vision initially and total blindness eventually. Presently, the tests are conducted in a doctor’s chamber with the help of a slit-lamp bio-microscopy used by an ophthalmologist. The statement also noted that even though the examination can determine the visual condition of many people, getting the needed treatment in ophthalmology is mostly not easy for them.

Large specialised equipment that is found in only clinical settings is required to carry out the test presently. Therefore, monitoring the patients who live in less-resource or rural communities becomes a big challenge, highlighted the statement. Scientists of ophthalmology from Federico II, Molise and Brescia universities have developed the technology that has been implemented in the new examination. In the development process, they created a D-eye that can now be attached to an iPhone. Thus, a critical technological device has become a contemporary virtual ophthalmoscope which can be used by anyone who knows how to use an iPhone.

The combined implementation of the traditional method and the new device yielded same results for 85% of the patients of ophthalmology. The traditional device could not grade the eyes of four patients while the iPhone edition fails read when there are as many as 9 patients. Thus, the statement signified the benefit that the innovation adds to the device. It is noteworthy that the method of check-up with a smartphone cheaper than the traditional method by thousands of pounds. The option is affordable that it instils hope of availability of eye care in rural and non-hospital settings, where there is lack of ophthalmic expert personnel usually.

If you need an refurbished ophthalmic equipment visit Vision Systems (http://www.patternless.com/) or cal lthem at  866.934.1030.

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Marco ARK 30 or Palm ARK – Palm ARK is a handheld autorefractor keratometer which offers a versatile portability to multiple applications like satellite office or inter office transport, mission work, visits to nursing homes, as well as local health screening. The hand held designs of the keratometer allows the measurement to be carried on people suffering from physical handicap. They also allow carrying out the measurements on the wheel chaired people. These can be used in operating rooms for carrying out refractive procedure. Hard copy prints can be received trough infrared communication to the docking station from ARK 30. The measurements are taken automatically by Palm ARK following the alignments and transitions to automatic keratometry from auto refraction. Rapid measurements can be taken of severely challenging patients through its quick mode operation. Fixation is relaxed and box accommodation is reduced by infinity target. When the measurement procedure is carried out target fogging is prevented by focused accommodation. The alignment is facilitated by the operator display screen and it also aids in keeping comfortable distance from the patient. The viewing screen clearly shows all data. Measurements depend on how the patient is aligned. In case of the patient being improperly aligned the measurements cannot be taken. The operator would then be reported back numerical confidence indices. The RS 232 interface facilitates the transferring of data to EHR/EMR programs.

Marco ARK 530 A – ARK 530 A, an objective autorefractor keratometer features LSD or Super Luminiscent Diode which aids in taking the accurate measurements and reading of patients suffering from cataracts post LASIK, IOLs, and corneal opacities. The equipment uses the Zonal Ring Image Method which is combined with much sensitive CCD. ARK 530 autorefractor keratometer is completely automated when tracking, aligning, and focusing on the eye of the patient. The process ensures completely reliable as well as repeatable data in keratometry and refractive measurements. With the help of ARK 530 the operator can take keratometric measurements which are peripheral that include the eccentricity values and sagittal radius that are used in the evaluations pertaining to the cornea for fitting contact lens as well as refractive surgery evaluation.

Marco ARK 1s – Marco brings out another new autorefractor keratometer. ARK 1s can measure cylindrical refractive error and the cylindrical axis from refractive condition of the eye of the patient. Additionally, this becomes the very first Ark which combines the capacity of low contrast test, glare testing, retro illumination, accommodation, presentation of visual acuity chart, and the capacity of refining the sphere subjectively. The ability to glare test makes it easy to test such patients who suffer from cataract. Traditional methods are not only time consuming and cumbersome but their accuracy is questionable too. As Medicare prevails, having a continuous and consistent measurement is of utmost importance which facilitates an accurate qualification of patients who are about to undergo cataract surgery. Doctors who depend on low contrast test can also go for this autorefractor keratometer. Accommodative measurements aid the doctors in the detection of problems in hidden hyperopes, and presbyopia.
Source: http://www.marco.com/products.html

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