New Technology Has Sights on Saving Vision of Diabetic Patients

HOUSTON - Oct. 2, 2013 - PRLog -- Harris Health System has its sights set on saving the vision of thousands of patients with diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of preventable blindness in the United States, thanks to its latest screening technology now available at eight of its health centers — Aldine, Baytown, El Franco Lee, Casa de Amigos, Gulfgate, Martin Luther King Jr., Settegast and Vallbona. The cameras and screening software began use in early June.

Harris Health System (http://www.harrishealth.org/) becomes the first healthcare system in Texas to feature the cutting-edge combination screening and software technology to detect diabetic retinopathy. Once fully installed and verified, Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems (IRIS) offers an auto-read function that boasts a better-than-97-percent positive detection rate. In most cases, early detection of diabetic retinopathy and immediate treatment can improve the chances of people avoiding vision problems or total blindness.

“I have to say this is a game changer for patients with diabetes at Harris Health System, because we will be able to save many of them from debilitating vision problems,” says Dr. Ericka Brown, senior vice president and administrator, Harris Health Ambulatory Care Services. “With eight screening locations throughout our community, flexible scheduling and immediate results, Harris Health has really invested in keeping our community’s diabetic population seeing into the future.”

IRIS uses software that highlights disease seen in the retina using a computer algorithm, similar to how geologists map the earth to drill for oil, to detect suspicious areas for retinopathy. The auto-read function offers a “normal” or “abnormal” reading almost immediately.

Harris Health System treats about 47,000 patients with diabetes. Doctors recommend people with diabetes get an annual eye screening for retinopathy. With this new screening project in place, providers expect nearly all patients to get annually screened.

“Providing screenings for thousands of people is very labor-intensive and, given our limited resources, is difficult for eye care providers to see so many patients a year,” says Dr. Yvonne Chu, chief, Ophthalmology, Harris Health System’s Ben Taub Hospital, and associate professor, Baylor College of Medicine (http://www.bcm.edu/).  “With the new technology, we will be able to perform nearly 100,000 eye scans in one year and detect disease earlier to prevent vision loss.”

Diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic eye disease and is caused by changes in the blood vessels of the retina. The retina is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye needed for good vision. There are two major forms of diabetic retinopathy:

Proliferative retinopathy develops when abnormal new blood vessels grow on the surface of the retina or optic nerve.
Non-Proliferative retinopathy develops in early stage of diabetic retinopathy when small blood vessels within the retina leak blood or fluid. The leaking leads to blurred vision.

All people with diabetes — type 1 and 2— are at risk. In fact, the longer someone has diabetes, their chance of getting diabetic retinopathy rises between 40 to 45 percent, according to the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health (http://www.nei.nih.gov/).

“Once we identify those patients with diabetic retinopathy, we can better use our resources to treat and prevent further deterioration of their sight and reassure those patients who do not have retinopathy, that they are doing well,” Chu says.

Because diabetic retinopathy can show no symptoms in early stages, people with diabetes are urged to get a retinal exam at least once a year.  If detected early, people with diabetic retinopathy can have successful treatments including medications, laser and microsurgery that can stop or slow vision loss. Treatments can have a high success rate in the early stages, however they don’t cure diabetic retinopathy.