Web-based Multimedia Information Management System For Use In Remote Diagnosis Of Eye Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$196,000.00
Summary
Our aim is to develop a web-based multimedia information management system for use in remote diagnosis of eye diseases. The proposed system will provide medical advice and diagnosis, information and distance education for those working in health care as well as the community, computer-aided diagnosis and assistance in the operational and medical decision-making process. Less expensive health care personnel should be able to use the system with little training in remote and rural areas. Significa ....Our aim is to develop a web-based multimedia information management system for use in remote diagnosis of eye diseases. The proposed system will provide medical advice and diagnosis, information and distance education for those working in health care as well as the community, computer-aided diagnosis and assistance in the operational and medical decision-making process. Less expensive health care personnel should be able to use the system with little training in remote and rural areas. Significantly, the project should empower remote general doctors and nurses by proper access to expert advice, save many remote patients from unnecessary visits to specialist centres on the one hand and allow more proper diagnosis and intervention on the other. It has the potential for significant reductions in the cost of health care delivery, should strengthening the bond between medical services in remote and city areas, provide training and education of local GPs, nurses, health care workers and optometrists and provide web-based disease management systems will provide instant access to health care information. The outcomes of this project are potentially of great significance to remote and rural communities in Australia and around the world. There will be an enormous impact on current health care practices. Significantly, the project should empower remote general doctors and nurses by proper access to expert advice, save many remote patients from unnecessary visits to specialist centres on the one hand and allow more proper diagnosis and intervention on the other. It has the potential for significant reductions in the cost of health care delivery, should strengthening the bond between medical services in remote and city areas, provide training and education of local GPs, nurses, health care workers and optometrists and provide web-based disease management systems will provide instant access to health care information. The outcomes of this project are potentially of great significance to remote and rural communities in Australia and around the world. There will be an enormous impact on current health care practices.Read moreRead less
A ROBOTIC MICRO DRAINAGE SURGERY FOR GLAUCOMA (A BIOLOGICAL MICROFISTULA AND IMPLANTATION METHOD AND APPARATUS)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$441,020.00
Summary
Glaucoma is a major cause of blindness in our community. We are developing a new surgical procedure to treat glaucoma. The technique is based on the implantation of a tiny drainage tube inside the eye. This allows the eye's natural fluid to escape at the required rate. Insufficient drainage, or over production of fluid in the eye's of glaucoma patients is responsible for the high pressures inside the eye that characterise this disease. A simple, safe, and reliable surgical procedure to lower int ....Glaucoma is a major cause of blindness in our community. We are developing a new surgical procedure to treat glaucoma. The technique is based on the implantation of a tiny drainage tube inside the eye. This allows the eye's natural fluid to escape at the required rate. Insufficient drainage, or over production of fluid in the eye's of glaucoma patients is responsible for the high pressures inside the eye that characterise this disease. A simple, safe, and reliable surgical procedure to lower intraocular pressure would be a major benefit to the almost 67 million glaucoma patients worldwide, and would relieve the current need for lifelong medication.Read moreRead less
Despite the acknowledged limitations of ophthalmic medication by means of topical guttae therapy, including toxicity, inefficiency and poor compliance, there has been no success in developing a true alternative suitable for a wide range of conditions. The availability of a simple, safe efficacious means of prolonged topical ophthalmic drug delivery would alter the practice of ophthalmology worldwide, with reduced morbidity, improved compliance and direct and indirect health savings. Poor patient ....Despite the acknowledged limitations of ophthalmic medication by means of topical guttae therapy, including toxicity, inefficiency and poor compliance, there has been no success in developing a true alternative suitable for a wide range of conditions. The availability of a simple, safe efficacious means of prolonged topical ophthalmic drug delivery would alter the practice of ophthalmology worldwide, with reduced morbidity, improved compliance and direct and indirect health savings. Poor patient compliance with topical guttae therapy is increasingly recognised as a source of significant morbidity. The occurrence of such a breakthrough in Australia would result in Australia benefiting from the boost to a medical biomaterial industry based here, with a large export market for a high value-m3 product. During the next phase of research for this project, over 1 year, we aim to do the following: Phase I: Manufacture a range of prototype devices, with variations in sponge and surface composition and evaluate these devices using a Sintech mechanical tester for elasticity and strength and by light and environmental scanning electron microscopy for structure and porosity. The liquid loading capacity will also be measured for each variant. Phase II: Using both hydrophilic and lipophilic models, drug loading and release kinetics will be assessed in vitro in a continuous flow system, with drug concentrations being measured by UV-Vis and HPLC. Drug stability within the devices will also be assessed. Phase III: Having determined the optimum sponge formulation and release kinetics in vitro, a pilot study will be undertaken to assess drug release in an animal model. Loaded devices will be placed within the inferior fornix the rabbits for specified periods from 0.5 to 96 hours, then removed so that drug levels remaining in the device can be assessed. After a 2 week flushing period, the experiments will be repeated but with animals being sacrificed at the end of the wearing period so that device levels in intraocular tissues and fluids, as well as remaining in the devices, can be determined at these times, with appropriate controls (‘blank’ devices and guttae therapy). This study will also fulfil the requirements for new device tolerance testing as specified by Regulatory authorities, as animals will be monitored for signs of irritation and histological studies will allow any evidence of inflammation to be identified. These studies do not allow evaluation of the device in a model diseased eye, nor attempt to establish drug loading levels required for human subjects, as there are differences in drug transport across the ocular surfaces of rabbits and humans, but will allow sufficient proof-of-principle for further development to occur.Read moreRead less
A Single Digital Handheld Imaging Device For Use In Both Ophthalmology And Dentistry
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$431,221.00
Summary
Our aim is to produce and validate a single digital imaging device which can be used in ophthalmology (both for retinal and anterior segment imaging) and dentistry. This device will be low-cost, easy-to-operate and portable. Our planned development of the novel screening tool should help in bringing high quality, lower cost health care to those without easy access to it, firstly to residents of rural areas in Australia and then in developing countries in our region. This can be achieved by more ....Our aim is to produce and validate a single digital imaging device which can be used in ophthalmology (both for retinal and anterior segment imaging) and dentistry. This device will be low-cost, easy-to-operate and portable. Our planned development of the novel screening tool should help in bringing high quality, lower cost health care to those without easy access to it, firstly to residents of rural areas in Australia and then in developing countries in our region. This can be achieved by more efficient screening methods and redirecting resources to target those with treatable eye disease only. The detection process can be progressively transferred to less expensive health workers while ophthalmologist input can be redirected to monitoring the screening results and performing surgery. The dentists travel infrequently to rural and remote WA. If the dentist can pre plan their treatment then it will be more efficient and possible to treat more people at each visit to remote and rural WA. With the help of the proposed imaging device for dentistry, the nurses and other allied personnel should be able to send the digital images in advance to dentist over Internet and therefore help dentist pre-plan their treatment. As a result, improved dental care for rural, remote and underserved communities will occur.Read moreRead less
Development Of A Slit Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope As A Screening Tool In Glaucoma Diagnostics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$195,830.00
Summary
Glaucoma is typified by progressive optic disc cupping and loss of fibres with consequent characteristic field defects. Direct imaging of the retina and quantitative assessment of such images greatly increases early diagnosis of this blinding disease. The proposed device, a laser line scanning ophthalmoscope, could support non-invasive imaging to obtain 3-D information in a simple and cost effective way. This could provide objective clinical parameters to support the decision making process.
New Dynamometric Techniques For Predicting Glaucoma Progression
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$171,825.00
Summary
Glaucoma is a major cause of blindness in our community. The biggest risk factor for glaucoma is raised intraocular pressure. However, the exact cause of the disease remains unknown. Through our basic science studies in animals we have discovered that changes in blood flow in the vessels at the optic disk may be involved in the disease process. In recent clinical trials we discovered that the presence or absence of pulsations in the retinal veins at the disk was both an indicator of severity and ....Glaucoma is a major cause of blindness in our community. The biggest risk factor for glaucoma is raised intraocular pressure. However, the exact cause of the disease remains unknown. Through our basic science studies in animals we have discovered that changes in blood flow in the vessels at the optic disk may be involved in the disease process. In recent clinical trials we discovered that the presence or absence of pulsations in the retinal veins at the disk was both an indicator of severity and progression of glaucoma. This is a major breakthrough because there is no other means of predicting in which glaucoma patients vision loss will develop most rapidly. This information will be very helpful in deciding which patients should have the most agressive treatment to restore normal intraocular pressure. This project seeks to develop a new commercial device to make such an examination easy for any clinical ophthalmologist. The device allows the doctor to examine the vessels at the disk whilst applying slight pressure to the eye to temporarily raise intraocular pressure. A footswitch is pressed when the doctor sees the vessels pulsate. The required force is recorded by a laptop computer and the data stored along with the patients details. Now we have confirmed the ability of such a measurement to predict the rate of visual field loss in glaucoma, such a measurement will become much more widespread in clinical ophthalmology, offering a new and large scale opportunity for such instrumentation. Our device will be easy to operate, more comfortable for the patient, and will be of major diagnostic value in glaucoma clinics worldwide.Read moreRead less