Fundus thing

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MIT Media Lab demos wearable fundus camera

By: Jonah Comstock | Apr 18, 2013     119   117   1

Tags: CATRA | EyeNetra | fundus camera | MIT Media Lab | NETRA | smartphone eye exam | TEDMED |TEDMED 2013 |

This image from TEDMED shows a closeup on an MIT student wearing an eyeMITRA prototype.

The MIT Media Lab’s Camera Culture Group, led by Dr. Ramesh Raskar, has innovated the smartphone eye diagnostic space before. Their NETRA software for smartphone-enabled eye exams spun off into EyeNetra, which raised $1 million in first round funding last year. Prior to that, they developed CATRA, a cheap smartphone connected device for diagnosing cataracts.

At TEDMED, Raskar announced (and demoed) the lab’s newest project, eyeMITRA. A demo of an earlier prototype, under the name RetiCue, has been online since last year. The new device isn’t a snap-on camera lens like the lab’s last two inventions, but instead a pair of smart glasses that displays a realtime image of the wearer’s fundus.

Raskar said the technology could be useful as a cheaper, smaller diagnostic tool for early diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes which can lead to blindness. This is the same basic use case as Welch Allyn’s iExaminer system, a recently FDA-cleared smartphone-enabled fundus camera. But while Welch Allyn’s device, which was also featured at TEDMED’s Smartphone Physical demonstration, is only for clinical use, Raskar said eyeMITRA could also be used at home.

“Imagine you wake up in the morning, brush your teeth, take our eyeMITRA glasses, put them on.” he said. With all that data, the company could “do a longitudinal and a cross-sectional analysis, and then of course create algorithms, and really get to the world of predictive analytics. The eyes are not just windows into your health, but into the heatlh of society.”

Although diabetic retinopathy is the beginning, Raskar said that reliable realtime pictures of the eye open the gates for all kinds of preventative diagnoses. The eye is the only part of the body that offers noninvasive imaging access to both blood vessels and nerves. Because of this, many chronic conditions have early warning systems that can be detected via the eyes. Raskar listed AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, hyper-cholestrolemia, tumors, Wilson’s disease, and neurological conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s as just a few possibilities.

With such a wide potential for noninvasive diagnosis, one wonders if Raskar and his team are considering entering the race for the Tricorder X Prize. It’s certainly clear that their vision for the technology extends far beyond eye care.

[신규호]

힘들어요...

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내 후년이면 우리 곁에 올 것 같아. 당뇨쎈터에는 필수적으로 비치해야 할거야. 환자가 사진을 찍어올거야. 안과의사 해먹기도 어려울거고.

[흥부]

키 워드들은 -- create algorithm to the world of predictive analytics. The eyes are windows into your health.
Eye is the only part of the body that offers noninvasive imaging access to both blood vessels and nerves. Because of this, many chronic conditions have early warning systems that can be detected via the eyes. Raskar listed AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, hyper-cholestrolemia, tumors, Wilson’s disease, and neurological conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s as just a few possibilities.

[오찬규]

위의 기사로는 전체적인 내용을 잘 모르겠지만, 스마트폰으로 자신의 Fundus imaging을 할 수 있는 device를 만들어 냈다고 하는 것 같은데, 앞으로 그것이 얼마나 유용할지는 잘 모르겠오. 내가 가지고 있는 고가의 최신형 Canon RC-2 Fundus Camera로도 detail한 fundus image를 얻기가 어려워 애를 먹고 있는데 스마트폰 영상이 전문장비의 성능을 뛰어 넘으리라고 기대하기는 어렵지 않겠오? 더구나 일반인이 스마트폰으로 EKG나 뇌파 data를 수집할 수 있다 하더라도 그걸 가지고 무얼 할 수 있겠오? Rasker가 쓸데없는 일을 하고 있는 것 같소.