Cogan Lecture looks at potential of virtual reality for testing visual fields

Issue: June 10, 2018

HONOLULU — There is potential for early detection of glaucomatous disease with use of virtual reality in-home-based testing of visual fields, Felipe A. Medeiros, MD, PhD, said here in his delivery of the Cogan Lecture at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting.

Citing a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology, Medeiros described the use of the nGoggle, a wearable brain-computer interface, to objectively assess visual function and distinguish glaucomatous eyes from healthy ones. The nGoggle integrates dry electroencephalogram and electro-oculogram systems to wirelessly detect multifocal steady-state visual evoked potentials in response to visual field stimulation.

“The idea is that we perform this test and we can then transmit the results through the cloud or via Bluetooth,” Medeiros said. The raw data that is collected can be complex and needs to go through several stages of processing.

“Recently we implemented some machine learning methods to be able to extract the information that has diagnostic value,” he said.

Potential advantages for such an instrument include the possibility of home-based testing, which would lead to early detection of progression, as well as the creation of a variety of functional vision tests using virtual reality that would be more engaging for the patient, he said.

The Cogan Award recognizes a young, promising researcher for contributions of research in ophthalmology or visual science related to disorders of the human eye or visual system. – by Patricia Nale, ELS

References:

Medeiros FA. Cogan Lecture: Microimaging to macrofunctioning in glaucoma. Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting; April 28-May 3, 2018; Honolulu.

Nakanishi M, et al. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2017;doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2017.0738.

Disclosure: Medeiros reports he has a financial interest in the nGoggle.