OIC's Chris Malicdem, Tim Way and Chris Way with retina specialist Dr Leo Sheck (centre right)

Launched at Euretina 2022 in September and unveiled for the first time in Australasia at RANZCO 2022, Heidelberg Engineering’s AppWay is described as a novel gateway solution for secure data exchange, allowing easy access to the latest ophthalmic AI decision-making apps.

Embedded into Heidelberg’s image management platform Heyex 2, AppWay facilitates the delivery of AI-driven clinical insights and treatment monitoring tools for better patient care, said Ophthalmic Instrument Company’s (OIC’s) Tim Way. “Everyone is quite excited about it. Clinicians can now drag and drop clinical images that they want analysed onto their choice of AI application’s thumbnail inside Heyex 2 for secure and detailed AI-powered analysis. This will allow clinicians to be better able to quantify and analyse their patients’ conditions and treatment regimes.”

An example RetinAI report

Initial app partners include Austrian-based RetInSight and Swiss company RetinAI. RetInSight’s Fluid Monitor is an AI-based fluid activity meter designed to monitor disease activity and treatment response in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) patients, so treatment can be better personalised to improve outcomes. “It provides clinicians with easy access to fluid parameters, the most important biomarkers in the routine monitoring of nAMD, said Professor Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth from the University of Vienna, Austria. RetinAI’s tools offer additional diagnostic insights for AMD, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular oedema, cystoid macular oedema and retinal vein occlusion, said Dr Carlos Ciller, RetinAI’s CEO. “Our AI tools are enablers to increase efficiency in research and clinical studies and we expect they can also improve medication and treatment regimens for patients by providing enhanced data insights.”

“The services of our app partners in combination with the powerful data of our imaging platforms will empower eyecare professionals to uncover even more details of the eye,” said Krysten Williams, Heidelberg’s global head of marketing and education at Euretina 2022. More app partners will be added to the workflow solution in due course, she said.