Children with “lazy eyes” and other vision disorders could be more accurately diagnosed with technology from Cambridge medical device firm REBIScan, according to a recent study published in JAMA Ophthalmology. REBIScan’s Pediatric Vision Scanner (PVS) device is actually a superior method to test preschool-age children for eye problems, the study found.
Indeed, Mayo Clinic ophthalmology professor Jonathan Holmes endorsed the device in an accompanying JAMA editorial: “Perhaps the PVS should be used as more than a screener… and should be incorporated into routine clinical assessment by eye care providers,” Holmes wrote. The study tested for amblyopia, or the lazy eye condition in children, as well as strabismus, which causes the misaligned eyes associated with the common condition.
The CDC says about 2 to 3 percent of the population are thought to have some degree of lazy eye. Combined, these two conditions are the leading causes of preventable vision loss around the world, CEO Justin Shaka said. The technology works by shining a polarized light to look at nerve fibers in the eye, and it’s fairly easy to determine a lazy eye diagnosis – something that’s often been difficult in young children who can’t yet speak well.
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“We no longer need a child to do anything but open their eyes for us,” Shaka said. “And it only takes three seconds.”
This allows diagnosis to run younger than ever before. The JAMA study included 2-year-old children, but Shaka said the company’s goal is to diagnose the condition in children even younger. The treatment is typically simple, requiring eye patches or eye glasses but occasionally surgery. But, as with myriad other medical conditions, early intervention leads to better outcomes.
“What’s crazy is that [with current diagnostic methods] half the patients are being missed,” Shaka said.
REBIScan is built on technology developed by David Hunter, the current ophthalmologist-in-chief at Boston Children’s Hospital. In 2009, he cofounded the company and since has raised about $1 million in seed funding and NIH SBIR grants to build prototypes and conduct clinical and safety trials. The company is waiting on Food and Drug Administration approval for the PVS device, and after that will seek out an additional $2 million to manufacture and distribute the device, Shaka said.
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The JAMA study tested 300 children using the PVS and the Welch Allyn SureSight Autorefractor, which is a standard diagnostic tool for vision impairment in children. The independent study, supported by the Thrasher Research Fund, found that REBIScan’s PVS device outpaced the SureSight in sensitivity, identifying 97 percent of children affected by the targeted conditions. And, importantly, it misdiagnosed fewer healthy children.
[Image of a child wearing glasses to correct amblyopia, or lazy eye, from flickr user Steel Wool]
