This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Ophthalmologist continues to pursue remote-controlled slit lamp for remote examinations
Funding is needed to implement the device on Greek islands.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Iordanis Chatziangelidis, MD, MBA, FEBO, is a young ophthalmologist and entrepreneur with a dream to deliver eye care to remote parts of Greece. Michela Cimberle interviews Iordanis about his passion and the challenges he must overcome.
Anthony Khawaja, PhD, FRCOphth Outgoing Chair of the SOE Young Ophthalmologists committee
Two years after presenting the first self-assembled prototype of his remote-controlled slit lamp at the Winter European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Iordanis Chatziangelidis, MD, MBA, FEBO, is still fighting to make his dream come true. His dream is to give people living in remote Greek islands — and perhaps not only Greece — the chance to be seen by a specialist as often as needed to prevent avoidable suffering and loss of vision.
Reaching the mainland from remote islands is a problem for many of the people living on Greek islands. Transportation is not available on a daily basis and is often irregular due to adverse weather and sea conditions. Patients may need a person accompanying them and have to stay away for at least one night before getting back to their island. These costs are great for older people who live on a pension of just more than €300.
“During my ophthalmology residency in Athens, I used to visit patients who came from remote islands. Many of them presented too late, with advanced-stage conditions; others needed to be seen regularly but never came back again, and when they did, they were almost blind with perforated corneas,” Chatziangelidis said.
“This is unacceptable, I thought. We have the technology. We have possible solutions that are not so difficult to implement,” he said.
As a child, Chatziangelidis used to make his own remote-controlled toy machines. It was therefore easy for him to assemble a remote-controlled slit lamp, adding a three-axis mechanism to a secondhand slit lamp purchased from eBay and using his iPhone as a distance monitoring system.
“We set up a small proof of concept study at the hospital, which showed that the idea could definitely work. I was also looking ahead, thinking about a broader telemedicine project with a complete set of devices such as a portable tonometer, a portable fundus camera and an autorefractor, connected to an iPad and an iPhone. Relatively low cost, easy to use and to carry around. With this equipment, a general practitioner or even a nurse could perform a complete eye examination, with an ophthalmologist remotely connected at the other end. I also designed a database to collect all the information,” Chatziangelidis said.
The struggle to make it happen
Chatziangelidis personally presented his project to two ministers of health and two ministers of development.
“They congratulated me warmly, said it was a wonderful idea, and then nothing happened. I might have been unlucky because Greece was going through a time of great instability, when people and policies changed every few months. Whatever was initiated was interrupted and had to be proposed and started again. Public funds are still lacking, and the 6 billion European funds for new enterprises are distributed to too many people and companies, so that in the end the individual amounts are too small,” he said.
Recently, Chatziangelidis found a young local company that sponsored the construction of a new prototype. However, he needs money to obtain and maintain an ISO certification, which would entitle him to apply for a CE mark.
“It’s impossible nowadays, at least here in Greece. I have been cherishing and supporting my idea in all possible ways, investing the limited resources I have as a young doctor, but I cannot go on for much longer. I have to start investing in my practice now,” he said.
His practice is also very special, in line with his philosophy of making eye care accessible and overcoming barriers by reaching people in their own homes.
“I have my practice in a suitcase: the slit lamp, the fundus camera, the tonometer, all of them connected to the iPhone or iPad. I go from home to home, visiting people who are unable to get to the hospital. With my portable equipment, I am able to perform all the examinations I need and to store, process and transmit the information,” he said.
Telemedicine is the future, according to Chatziangelidis. He envisages a new system in which a number of big hospitals will be at the center of a capillary network of health care referrers, making specialized care available to all, regardless of the location.
“If our government doesn’t help, I will try to do it on my own, but I need to certify my first machine and I need to find investors,” he said. – by Michela Cimberle
- For more information:
- Iordanis Chatziangelidis, MD, MBA, FEBO, can be reached at iC.today, 22 Dimitriou Vasiliou Avenue, Neo Psychico 15451 Athens, Greece; email: lides@me.com.
Disclosure: Chatziangelidis reports no relevant financial disclosures.