New Imaging Device Can Detect Glaucoma Risk

June 16, 2008 · 58 views · Filed Under Aging

A high-resolution imaging instrument developed by scientists at Duke University Medical Center can detect subtle changes in the eye and help identify patients at risk for glaucoma, decades before the disease does irreversible damage. Doctors say this high-speed advance in optical coherence tomography may one day help prevent narrow-angle glaucoma, one of the major types of a disease considered to be the second leading cause of blindness in the world.

“We’ve been talking about treating glaucoma for a long time,” said Sanjay Asrani, MD, an associate professor of ophthalmology with the Duke Eye Center. “Now we’re changing the paradigm. We want to prevent it.” Dr. Asrani is the lead author of research on this technology which appears in the June issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

Narrow-angle glaucoma is the most serious form of glaucoma, affecting nearly 500,000 people in the U.S. It can come on without warning, causing acute painful loss of sight. In a small percentage of patients, the damage it causes may occur gradually, but it is difficult to treat and often requires surgery. Narrow-angle glaucoma is more prevalent among people with a family history, people who are far-sighted, diabetics, and Asians.

Full Story: New Imaging Device Can Detect Glaucoma Risk
Source: Duke University Health System

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