Bringing competition to the growing ultra-widefield (UWF) imaging space, Zeiss’ medical technology division has unveiled its Clarus 500 UWF fundus imaging technology.

On show publicly, for the first time in Australasia at RANZCO 2017 in Perth (see feature p10-17), Hartmut Becker, Zeiss’ head of global market development, ophthalmic diagnostics, said the Clarus 500 is the first UWF imaging device that delivers true colour by bringing the three main wavelengths of light, red, blue and green, into the back of the eye. The Clarus 500 combines this true colour view, said to be comparable to direct observation, with high-resolution clarity down to 7 microns in an UWF view from the macula to the far periphery, to better detect early signs of eye disease.

Colour accuracy is important in the diagnosis, documentation and management of ocular diseases for both ophthalmologists and optometrists, especially when evaluating optic disc, nevi and lesions in which subtle colour differences may lead to a change in diagnosis and management, added Dane Moloney, Zeiss’ Australasian medical division manager. Specifically, accurate coloration and resolution is important for evaluating focal change in rim tissue, nerve pallor, dry age-related macular degeneration RPE pigment changes and drusen.

"Traditional fundus imaging systems have been the gold standard for macular disease diagnosis and optic nerve evaluation for many years," said Jim Mazzo, Zeiss’ global president ophthalmic devices. "Now, ultra-widefield is starting to change this. Clinicians are finding that by imaging a larger area of the retina, they have the possibility of uncovering more pathology, aiding in earlier disease diagnosis and better patient management.”

The Clarus 500 produces 133° HD widefield images, which are then automatically merged to achieve a 200° UWF of view in a single exam, while providing annotation and calliper measurement tools to provide an in-depth analysis of eye health.

The Clarus is also fully-integrated with Zeiss’ other technology systems for efficient multi-modality analysis, said Moloney. “From Zeiss’ perspective, we pride ourselves on being able to sell the solution for the optometrist or the ophthalmologist. For example, we see a great space for the Clarus to complement our OCT-A, Angioplex technology, and then bring all that data together in our image management platform, Forum, to provide a full solution for the disease clusters that exist, especially glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.”