Abstract
Purpose :
To describe the design and development of a novel smartphone-based application aimed at helping patients maintain correct post-operative head positioning following retinal detachment repair.
Methods :
An application to assist patients in recovering from retinal detachment repair was developed for the iPhone (Apple, Cupertino, CA) operating system (iOS). The application was written using the Swift programming language within the Xcode developer toolset and iOS software development kit (SDK). The Core Motion framework as part of the iOS SDK was utilized in order to capture motion- and environment-related data from onboard sensors (i.e gyroscope and accelerometer) on the iOS device. An algorithm was developed that processed and saved raw motion-related data including device orientation in three-dimensional space. The gyroscopic data is processed prior to use in order to remove bias from other factors, such as gravity. This user-initiated and refined data is then used to guide patients into the correct head position for optimal recovery.
Results :
This user-friendly smartphone application consists of tutorial as well as physician and patient specific sections. Within the physician tab the provider is allowed to set the desired postoperative head position by moving the smartphone in three-dimensional space. The obtained gyroscopic positional data (primarily in the Z and X axes) is then parsed and translated into a series of stepwise instructions for patients to follow. By accurately following the outlined steps, patients can reliably be redirected into the desired position.
Conclusions :
Correct post-operative positioning following retinal detachment repair facilitates recovery. The ability to precisely and accurately save the desired postoperative head position allows patients and providers previously unavailable control over recovery following retinal detachment repair. Smartphone-based mobile ophthalmic applications are increasingly being developed and, if evidence-based, are poised to offer tremendous clinical value in daily practice. Clinical studies aimed at validating the reliability and utility of this application in retinal detachment repair are underway.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.