Job Search
What type of work do you want?
Where do you want to work?
Input the your postcode district and the distance you are prepared to travel
from
or Select a region
Early Diagnosis of Ocular Pathologies Such as Keratitis and
Macular Degeneration Now Possible
Researchers from the University of Granada have provided an
early diagnosis of certain ocular diseases that are very common
today, such as age-related macular degeneration and keratitis, by
applying an existing optical technique that, nevertheless, had
never before been used for this purpose.
Scientists from the UGR have studied the image quality in
subjects affected by one of these two pathologies, finding a
greater amount of ocular aberrations and a higher level of
scattering (term associated with the dispersion that light suffers
when passing through the various ocular media) in affected eyes
compared with results in healthy eyes. This significantly affects
visual performance.
This work has been performed by the researcher Carolina Herrera
Ortiz, from the Optics Department at the University of Granada, and
directed by professors José Ramón Jiménez Cuesta and Francisco
Pérez Ocón.
Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is the leading cause of
central vision loss in developed countries, and mainly affects
people of over 50 years of age. As far as keratitis is concerned,
this condition causes inflammation of the cornea and can cause
blindness, due to the severe alterations that the corneal surface
may suffer.
Optical instruments
To carry out this work, the scientists measured the image
quality with two optical instruments and used a psychophysical test
for assessing visual performance. Results from patients with ARMD
were compared with those obtained from a control group of similar
age without any ocular pathology. Thus, the researchers could
verify that for individuals affected by this condition there is an
increased level of ocular scattering that could be mainly due to
the disruption suffered by the light reflected in the damaged
retina of the ARMD eyes, because a priori optics are not expected
to be altered, since it is a retinal pathology.
On the other hand, optical quality and visual performance have
also been studied in patients affected by keratitis. Eyes affected
by keratitis present a poorer optical quality and a reduced visual
performance that improves significantly after the resolution of the
pathology. Nevertheless, once medical treatment ends, eyes that
suffered from keratitis still have a worse image quality compared
to the contralateral healthy eye, a result that significantly
influences visual performance even having reached the normal values
of visual acuity.
Visual quality characterization
The results of this research carried out at the UGR will make a
full and objective characterization of visual quality in patients
affected by any of these ocular pathologies. So far, the use of new
techniques for assessing objectively the optic quality of the eye
has been limited to studies on refractive or cataract surgery.
However, as Carolina Ortiz Herrera suggests, this work "may be of
particular interest to establish an early diagnosis of certain
ocular diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, the main
cause of central vision loss in developed countries."
Furthermore, this technique allows researchers to carry out a
monitoring of possible stages of both diseases. Ortiz Herrera
stresses the importance of including "both in the clinical practice
of optometry and ophthalmology" the use of new techniques that,
objectively, could indicate deterioration in vision even when the
visual acuity values are normal, since "vision is not only seeing
well, but providing quality and comfort."
The results of this PhD research led to two publications in
journals such as Journal of Modern Optics and Cornea.
They will be soon published in Current Eye
Research.
RELATED NEWS