A new optical device puts the ability to find eye disease within the palm of a hand. The tool, about the size of a handheld video camera scans a patient's entire retina in seconds. If found something, doctors will aid the patients within the early detection of retinal diseases as well as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and macular degeneration. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) describe their new ophthalmic-screening instrument during a paper published today within the open-access journal Biomedical Optics express, published by The Optical Society (OSA).

Power grip style (A-B) and
camcorder style design (C-D)
of the prototype OCT scanner
(Credit: Biomedical Optics Express)

Although alternative research groups and companies have created handheld devices using similar technology, the new design is the first to mix innovative technologies like ultrahigh-speed 3D imaging, a little micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) mirror for scanning, and a method to correct for unintentional movement by the patient. These innovations, the authors say, ought to allow clinicians to gather comprehensive data with only one measurement.

Normally, to diagnose retinal diseases, an ophthalmologist or optometrist should examine the patient in his or her workplace, with tabletop instruments. However, few people visit these specialists often. To improve public access to eye care, the MIT group, with the University of Erlangen and Praevium/Thorlabs, has developed a transportable instrument that may be taken outside a specialist's workplace.

"Handheld instruments will enable screening a wider population outside the normal points of care," said researcher James Fujimoto of MIT, an author on the biomedical Optics Express paper. For example, they will be used at a primary-care doctor's workplace, a pediatrician's office or perhaps in the developing world.