Space technology used to prevent blindness
Technology used by astronomers to get a clear view of distant galaxies has been modified to spot damaged cells in the eye.
Researchers hope the sophisticated adaptive optics system will save the sight of patients in the future.
Adaptive optics compensates for the distorting effects of the Earth’s turbulent atmosphere by continually measuring optical flaws and correcting them.
It allows astronomers at the Keck telescope in Hawaii to see distant objects almost as well as the Hubble space telescope.
Two scientists at the Indiana University School of Optometry in Bloomington, USA, are now applying the same technology to the problem of viewing cells in the retina and optic nerve at the back of the eye.
Professors Donald Miller and Larry Thibos are using adaptive optics to eliminate the distorting effects of a patient’s eye.
Like the Earth’s atmosphere, the fluid-filled eye is constantly changing, making it impossible to obtain clear images of the retina.
As a result doctors cannot tell at an early stage whether cells are healthy or diseased.
By the time symptoms become apparent, retinal cells are often dead and blindness may be unavoidable.
If signs of retinal disease can be detected early, there is a much better chance of saving the patient’s vision.
Professor Thibos said: “In glaucoma, for example, the actual disease is cells in the optic nerve dying, and right now doctors can’t see that happening.
“They can only see it after the cells are dead. It may take 10 years for changes in vision caused by glaucoma to show up. They could do much better in treating glaucoma if diagnosis was made early.”
Another major application for the technology was in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
“Scientists can now see retinal cells degenerating in the laboratory, but not in the patient’s eye,” said Professor Thibos. “Early diagnosis would allow much superior treatment and prevention of blindness.”
He has designed an instrument called an ocular aberrometer that measures optical flaws in the eye by sensing errors in optical wavefronts reflected from the retina.
His colleague Professor Millar has developed technology that corrects these errors to obtain high resolution images.
