Periodic diagnostics and preventive examinations help to identify a lot of diseases at an early stage, but some conditions can be diagnosed only when the disease has already protracted long enough. In addition, many life-threatening pathologies cannot be detected in remote regions due to the lack of qualified specialists. But recently, the staff of the Medical University of Vienna presented an affordable retinal scanner, which can be a good tool for early diagnosis of a number of diseases, including diabetes.
According to Science Daily, for their development, the researchers used data that can be "read" from the retina of any person, and it can give a lot of information. When developing the scanner, the technology of optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used, which produces up to 40,000 images within 1.2 seconds. The data obtained is analyzed by algorithms based on artificial intelligence, and then the system issues a conclusion.
As it was found out, such a diagnostic method without the help of an ophthalmologist makes it possible to identify the presence of diabetes in a patient or to calculate the risk of its occurrence, in addition, it is possible to obtain data on biological age, propensity and smoking history and a number of parameters. In the near future, scientists want to improve the algorithm in order to diagnose age-related degenerative disorders, neurological problems, diseases of the kidneys, heart and blood vessels, liver, as well as pathology of other internal organs.
Vladimir Kuznetsov