Smartphone-linked device to help diagnosis of vision-threatening conditions

A hand-held device that will allow ophthalmologists to look inside patients’ eyes to see the area of the retina that captures high-resolution images without first having to artificially dilate the pupils could make it easier to make earlier diagnosis of vision-threatening conditions, according to its inventors at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

The device was invented specifically for use in poorer countries where, using smartphones and a technique originally developed for astronomy, it could be taken out to patients to use in their own communities, rather than them having to travel to clinics.

The device is called mobileVision, and was developed by engineering researcher Adam Samangieno, graduate student Vivek Boominathan, and electrical and computer engineers Ashok Veeraraghavan and Ashutosh Sabharwal as part of Rice’s Scalable Health Initiative, which aims specifically to develop equipment for use in developing regions.

Normally, to image the retina, patients need to have uncomfortable eye-drops administered which, over some minutes, dilate the pupils; then clinicians use bulky, expensive equipment to look inside the eye and take pictures of different areas of the retina. The mobileVision device is designed to be used by the patient rather than a clinician and gives a view inside the eye without the need for dilation, allowing a region called the macula, where the light-sensitive cells of the retina are most dense are the highest resolution images are formed, to be imaged.