Abstract
Purpose :
(1) In general, to provide ophthalmic healthcare to people who live/operate in austere environments (e.g., third world, natural disaster areas, military environments), or are geographically dispersed (e.g., rural populations), where time, cost, and impossibility of travel make access to even adequate medical care difficult if not impossible. (2) In particular, to provide a head-mounted binocular high-speed pupillometer.
Methods :
Optical add-on adaptors, specifically designed for a variety of ophthalmic metrology applications, are developed that act as ophthalmic examination extensions to a smartphone. A healthcare practitioner attaches such a device to a smartphone and runs a custom app to perform a specialized examination of specific areas of the eye. The smartphone app submits the collected examination data through a wireless connection to a server-backend for medical analysis. The analysis results are sent back in near real-time and are displayed onscreen to the on-site practitioner to facilitate, e.g., a triage process.
Results :
A smart service platform in ophthalmology was devised by creating a server-based telediagnostic analysis capability for current and future smartphone-based ophthalmic examination devices. The first such ophthalmic examination device developed is a head-mounted, miniaturized pupillometer, composed of an optical add-on adapter coupled to a smartphone, that allows for the simultaneous recording of pupillary behavior of both eyes at 120Hz in the presence and absence of light stimulation, i.e., pupillary light reflex and dark reaction. Examination data gathered are sent via Wi-Fi or cell signal through a smartphone app to a server for automated video analysis. Analysis results, including the pupillary diameter displayed as a function of time for each eye in addition to parameters such as pupillary latency, constriction, and dilation times, are sent back to the originating smartphone in near real-time for further assessment by the on-site practitioner.
Conclusions :
In general, the new paradigm of Smart Ophthalmics, i.e., smart tele-ophthalmology, may greatly improve remote patient screening and triage, and help ensure that undiagnosed eye diseases are detected early and treated in time to prevent permanent vision impairment. In particular, the binocular pupillometer enables performing the swinging flashlight test, and may allow the diagnosis of afferent and efferent pupillary defects.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.