Abstract
Purpose :
The diagnosis of pediatric retinal diseases, such as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and retinoblastoma, encounters significant challenges in rural and low-resource regions, primarily due to lack of skilled healthcare providers to examine these children. Telemedicine using digital imaging has the potential to reduce medial disparity, but the high cost and limited field of view (FOV) offered by traditional digital fundus imagers makes it practical deployment difficult. This study introduces an innovative, cost-efficient smartphone pediatric camera (PedCam), capable of capturing ultra-widefield fundus images with a 200° snapshot FOV, allowing a comprehensive retinal evaluation up to the ora serrata.
Methods :
The smartphone PedCam employs trans-pars-planar illumination, using a broadband LED centered at 565nm, coupled into an optical fiber probe to illuminate the fundus. A detachable 3D-printed housing facilitates easy attachment to the smartphone, with 200° snapshot FOV confirmed through both Zemax simulations and experimental validation (Fig 1a). Ethical compliance was ensured with approval from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Illinois at Chicago and adherence to the Declaration of Helsinki's standards. The informed consent was taken from each subject.
Results :
Comparative imaging of a ROP patient with the smartphone PedCam (Fig. 1c1) and a clinical ultra-widefield SLO (Optomap, Optos Inc.) (Fig. 1c2) demonstrated the PedCam's superior image quality. Although the Optomap system offers a 220° FOV, its images appeared less optimized for pediatric applications than those from the smartphone PedCam. Effective FOV of the smartphone PedCam can be readily extended to 240° through image montaging, enabling comprehensive visualization of the whole retina up to ora serrata, thus demonstrating the prototype's adaptability and effectiveness in pediatric retinal imaging (Fig. 1d).
Conclusions :
The smartphone PedCam represents a significant step forward in pediatric retinal imaging, providing a low-cost, portable, and efficient method for retinal examinations. Its ability to achieve a 200° snapshot FOV, and potentially wider through montaging, addresses a critical need in teleophthalmology, particularly for remote and underserved populations, democratizing access to essential retinal care and potentially facilitating early and accurate diagnosis of pediatric retinal diseases.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Imaging in the Eye Conference, held in Seattle, WA, May 4, 2024.