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iPhone ophthalmoscope may be effective, lower cost diabetic retinopathy tool
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CHICAGO — An iPhone ophthalmoscope may be a cost-saving and effective tool used for the screening of diabetic retinopathy in underserved communities, according to an Academy of Ophthalmology press release issued here during the annual meeting.
Researchers from the University of Brescia, University of Molise and Federico II University of Naples, Italy, have developed a small optical adapter – D-Eye – which can attach magnetically to an iPhone 5, according to the press release.
“Using the iPhone method is thousands of dollars cheaper than using traditional equipment,” study researcher Andrea Russo, MD, said in the release. “The affordability of this option could make it much easier to bring eye care to non-hospital remote or rural settings, which often lack ophthalmic medical personnel.”
The iPhone ophthalmoscope, along with a slit lamp biomicroscope, was used to perform dilated retinal digital imaging in 120 patients with diabetes.
The iPhone ophthalmoscope and traditional methods yielded an exact agreement among 85% of eyes, and an agreement with grade of disease progression in 96.7% of the eyes, according to the press release.
Nine eyes were not gradable due to small pupil or cataract in the smartphone ophthalmoscopy results. There were four images not gradable with the biomicroscopy results.