Abstract
Purpose :
To devise a miniaturized, lightweight, binocular, high-speed pupillometer that records the pupillary light reflex (PLR) or pupillary dark reaction (PDR) of the right and left eye concurrently, and to provide a cloud-based analysis to extract the respective pupillary data.
Methods :
A custom optical system allows an attached smartphone to operate as a miniaturized, wearable binocular pupillometer to accommodate two fundamental tests: (1) the monitoring of the PLR of the right and left eye together with the respective consensual reaction (e.g., “swinging flashlight” test if alternately performed), and (2) the monitoring of the PDR of both eyes simultaneously. A custom smartphone app submits the collected examination data wirelessly to a cloud-based server for ophthalmic analysis. The analysis results are then sent back to the smartphone in near real-time for display.
Results :
A proof of concept head-mounted binocular pupillometer was built (Fig. 1) consisting completely of solid state components including LED-based tri-color visual stimuli, LED-based fixation targets, LED-based IR illumination systems, an LED trigger source, and an IR imaging system. The pupillometer allows for the concurrent high-speed recording (i.e., 120Hz) of the PLR and PDR of both eyes, while accommodating interpupillary distances of 59mm to 75mm. Test administration does not require a darkened room because the head-mounted pupillometer shields the subjects’ eyes from ambient light. A custom smartphone app submits the collected and encrypted examination data (i.e., video data) via a cellular or wireless network to a cloud-based server for image processing of each video frame. The encrypted analysis results, i.e., concurrent pupillary diameters of both eyes as a function of time as well as derivative data, e.g., pupillary latency, constriction, and dilation times, are then sent back to the smartphone in near real-time for display.
Conclusions :
The devised binocular pupillometer may help diagnose, e.g.: (1) afferent and efferent pupillary defects (including relative afferent pupillary defects); (2) (traumatic) brain injuries; (3) fatigue and sleep disorders, e.g., sleep apnea; and (4) drug use. Moreover, healthcare personnel with even minimal training can perform specialized examinations of a subject’s iris and pupil worldwide via the cloud-based telediagnostic capability.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.