Scientists in Singapore have invented a new 'pen camera' that makes it easier for doctors to diagnose patients with glaucoma.
Called the GonioPEN, the device could help tackle the eye disease by detecting the type of glaucoma faster and less expensively than using current methods. It causes negligible discomfort, unlike current gonioscopes, which must be pressed against the eyeball of the patient for doctors to look at the eye's drainage canal.
Built by a team at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU), led by Associate Professor Murukeshan Matham, the GonioPEN allows doctors or trained technicians to capture more detailed images of the eye drainage canal with minimal contact at the side of the cornea. Software is used to analyse the images, helping doctors and eye specialists with their diagnosis.
In a recent pilot study, all 20 patients found the GonioPEN more comfortable than the conventional hand-held lens used with a microscope.
As the current gonioscopy method takes up to 15 minutes to perform and requires a skilled specialist's expertise to diagnose the problem on the spot, it is not done in clinics as a routine, said Singapore Eye Research Institute’s (SERI’s) Assistant Professor Baskaran Mani, who collaborated on the research. As a result, half the patients in Singapore do not go through the test in clinics, leaving glaucoma largely undiagnosed there, he added.
