Taking care of your eyes is an important part of your general health. Eye care is important for healthy eyes and is a very important part of your general health.
In this Article The eye care specialists have continuous search of ways to administered better care for the patients. Ameliorating more precise and efficient diagnostic tools is a significant element to this search. Hence, the UIC Eye Center-prides itself and has constant development and implemented a new optical lab instruemnts and techniques.
There are four new optical lab instruments that have greatly improved eye care and treatment of common eye condition:
1. Optical Coherence Tomographer Model 3000 (OCT3)
The UIC Eye center has acquired an Optical Coherence Tomography Model 3000 (OCT3) an extremely powerful tool that ophthalmologists use. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) uses light waves to create detailed images of underlying retinal structures. Using this scanner, doctors can more specifically diagnose, treat and manage glaucoma and retinal diseases including diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration.
The OCT3 is considered as the state-of-the-art in optical lab instrument technology for cross-sectional imaging of the retinal tissue in living human eyes. This newest progression in imaging technology dramatically improves visualization of disease related abnormalities in the retinal structures. The UIC Eye Center clinicians and researches have visualized retinal abnormalities in patient who are suspected of having macular hole. Also, they would be able to image choroidal neovascularization in patients with age-related macular degeneration. The OCT3 could also be used to measure retinal nerve fiber layer in patients with diagnosed or suspected glaucoma and helped ophthalmologists to assess the progression of these diseases in an early stages and supervise treatment. The OCT is Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved and it is a non-significant risk devise.
2. Core Imaging Facility
The NIH has supported Core Imaging Facility provided by the department investigators with state-of –the-art instrumentation for digital image acquisition, processing and analysis. Investigators used the facility extensively to augment their research capabilities and documentation. The facility support in 3D fluorescence microscopy techniques for laboratories in the Division of Basic Sciences.
High resolution images can be obtained by confocal microscopy or deconvolution. These facilities are highly automated, and the data are recorded digitally. Special expertise is available for assistance with deconvolution microscopy, as well as live cell imaging. The resulting multi-channel confocal imaging spectrophotometer extensively increases the flexibility and effectiveness of the detection system. The apparatus housed in the facility includes an imaging station comprised of an inverted microscope cooled high-resolution digital camera and a workstation with disconsolation and calcium ratio software.
3. The RetCam 120
The UIC Eye Center and the UIC Medical Center lately has purchased the RetCam 120, a digital imaging technology which has been hailed as a revolutionary tool in the diagnosis and management of pediatric retinal diseases. Massie Research Laboratories of Dublin, CA, who’s developed the RetCam 120, allows systematic photographic imaging of pediatric retinal diseases that disturbed the equator and periphery revealed new details about their natural history and response to treatment. Since its acquisition, ophthalmologists from the department have imaged many rare medical conditions together with meduloepithelioma, pre-term retinoblastoma, atypical retinopathy of prematurity, juvenile retinoschesis, posterior persistent fetal vasculature, and juvenile Coats’ disease. This device is particularly helpful according to the researcher, because it allows direct comparison of the pretreatment and post treatment for retinoblastoma and as well as monitoring the cause of this great diversity of maladies. As an unanticipated benefit, the RetCam 120 has increased the parents’ understanding and engagement since they could already visualize their child’s problem. Lastly, a physician has to share clinical information in meetings and over the internet mounting the access to information of these diseases.
4. Corneal Topography
Of all the optical lab instruments technology currently available, corneal topography provides the most detailed information about the curvature of the corneas. Researchers’ using a very sophisticated computer and software, thousands of measurements are taken and analyzed in just seconds. This equipment has the ability to see the contour of the cornea, the transparent portion of the outer coat of the eyeball, is an important tool in the identification of corneal disorders. The contour of the cornea has been traditionally measure by a keratometer, which has been around for more than 100 years. The Keratometer offers a limited evaluation of the cornea and is greatly enhanced by the cornea topography unit. The UIC Eye Center acquired a corneal topography unit several years ago. However, a new upgraded version has recently been obtained that is on the cutting edge of this new technology. The corneal topography unit projects a series of light rings onto the surface of the cornea. The separation between the rings is measured at many points by a computer and a colored-coded- map of the surface of the cornea presented.
This new technology permits earlier diagnosis of many corneal diseases, provides
vital information to eye surgeons for preoperative and post-operative decision
making and provides helpful information for the fitting of the contact lenses.
5. Home Tonometer (Portable Eye Pressure Monitor)
Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes damage to the optic nerve and may result in blindness. High intraocular pressure (IOP) is a dominant risk factor in the development of glaucoma. Eye doctors must keep a constant record of their glaucoma patients’ IOP to indemnify that they receive the most effective treatment. However, an accurate assessment of a glaucoma patient’s eye pressure is difficult establish because eye pressure may fluctuate during the day and go on undetected. A patient with presumably normal eye pressure during a doctor visit may have periods of increased eye pressure at other times during the day. To control this problem, a portable instrument called the Home Tonometer has been developed at the UIC Eye Center. The Home Tonometer slows the p[patient to monitor aye pressure vat home or work. With the eye also to the instrument, that patient pushes a lever in the eye pressure measurement is taken comfortably an easily in abut two seconds.
In this Article we must be aware that monitoring of IOP provides the eyes specialist with important information to determine proper treatment and prevent further loss vision.
6. Retina thickness Analyzer
Muscular edema (thickening of the retina) is a major contribution to 5000 new cases of diabetes-related blindness yearly in the U.S. This condition is caused by leakage of fluid from the blood vessels’ into the retina, the light-sensitive layer of the eye. The accumulation of fluid causes retinal thickening and deterioration of vision. This condition can often be treated with lesser treatment. A new technique has been developed at the UIC Eye Center to assess and document the degree of retinal thickening. The procedure takes less than 30 minutes and is similar to an eye exam. A week, harmless lesser beam is projected on the retina while the patient is asked to look in different directions. An image of the retina is recorded in photographic film or video tape. A computer than processes and analyzes the images to determine the degree of thickening. Measurements are obtained at various locations on the retina to generate a thickness map for each eye.
The new technique of measuring retinal thickening sensitively monitors the degree of thickening for evaluating progression and treatment of muscular edema.
DRIVING ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
Certain eye conditions can cause severe peripheral or side-vision loss. This question becomes even more difficult in some older patients who may additionally have reflexes that have naturally slowed with age. Therefore, specialists conduct the driving assessment system, which currently being tested at the UIC Eye Center , objectively measures a number of driving skills using three-screen, interactive driving simulator. A Patient’s driving ability is assessed through the recording of a patient’s responses during an eight-minute session on a simulated driving test course. The driving session tests patients on crossing lane boundaries, braking response and the rate of the deceleration. Head and eye movements made during driving are also measured. Additionally, the driver is presented with a number of challenges on the simulator to test hand-eye coordination and response time.
Studies show that performance on the simulator is highly representative of real-world performance. Upon the completion of the driving test, patients and their physicians are given a “driving performance profile”, which is a report of how the patient performed. The driving assessment system helps eye care specialists make this difficult decision.
As new technologies are developed, the ability to diagnose and treat eye conditions will continue to improve, as will the overall quality of eye care.
