Automated OCT Technology Translation to Diagnose Traumatic Eye Injury
Abstract
The goal of this project is to develop an imaging system that can help to diagnose traumatic eye injuries such as burns, laser injuries, or other types of damage to the cornea and retina. The technology behind this eye imaging system is called optical coherence tomography (OCT) and is used worldwide in eye clinics. OCT is similar to ultrasound (the technology used to image babies in pregnant women) except OCT uses light so it does not require any touching and has much more resolution than ultrasound. However, conventional OCT systems are complex instruments, which are only found in hospitals, must be operated by specially trained technicians, and can only be used for patients with a steady gaze who can understand and follow directions. By combining several technologies we have previously developed to make OCT technology smaller, faster, and to automate its use by incorporating an alignment robot, our proposed system will automatically generate 3D scans of the eye without a specialist or cooperation from the patient. These 3D scans of the eye are digital and can also be sent by the internet to specialists to assist the early responder if needed. All this will be done without touching the eye, which is important in cases of eye injuries. Ultimately, the result of this research will be a device that can be used by early responders to identify the eyes that are critically injured so that those patients can be appropriately sent for specialist care. In a study of injuries during the Iraq wars, 13% of injuries involved the eye. However, eye injuries are very hard for non-specialists to diagnose. In fact, in a study of patients airlifted out of theater in Iraq and Afghanistan in the mid-2000s, only 11% had truly vision-threatening disorders. Appropriate identification of eye injuries should help early responders appropriately treat military personnel with eye injuries to help them obtain appropriate care and prevent vision loss. It will take three years to develop this device. The first year will be spent refining our previous system to generate the best possible images in both the front and back of the eye when operated by a robot. The second year will be spent teaching the robot to track eye movements while ensuring it never touches the patient. The second and third years will be used to show the system working in patients presenting with various eye injuries to the Duke Medical Center. We anticipate that the eye imaging system that results from this research will benefit Service members who need eye care in difficult to reach areas where an eye doctor may not be available.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 10, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2010660
Entities
People
- Joseph A. Izatt
Organizations
- Duke University
- United States Army