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Filtering forecast techniques personalize monitoring schedules for patients with glaucoma
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A tool that quickly assimilates information on IOP, visual field performance and structural optic nerve changes is under development, according to a presenter here.
Using Kalman filtering to mathematically monitor the motion of a dynamic system, in this case measurements surrounding glaucoma, researchers are developing the tool to help guide providers in personalizing glaucoma treatment, Joshua D. Stein, MD, MS, told colleagues at the World Glaucoma Congress. Kalman filtering can forecast future stage trajectory and combine multiple measurements for optimal noise reduction.
“This was, indeed, the technique employed by NASA when they landed a man on the moon,” Stein said. “Closer to home, researchers are exploring its utility in chronic disease management.”
Kalman filtering combines population-based understanding of disease evolution with the individual patient’s characteristics to forecast future values of key clinical parameters, he said.
“Applying this algorithm to glaucoma, it can predict future values for physicians of mean deviation, pattern deviation, visual function index, and their respective velocities and accelerations,” Stein said. “It can optimally extract measurement noise from the forecast.”
Disclosure: Stein discloses that the University of Michigan has a patent on some of the material presented.