HOPES, an acronym for Home Eye Pressure E-skin Sensor, is a wearable sensor device that enables users to self-monitor Intraocular Pressure (IOP). Elevated IOP is the highest modifiable risk factor of glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness, affecting more than 2 million people in the US alone (Glaucoma Research Foundation).
The gold standard procedure for measuring IOP is Goldman Applanation Tonometry (GAT), a procedure routinely performed at optometry offices, requiring the use of fluorescein dye and local anesthesia drops. Beyond costs and relative intrusiveness of the GAT procedure performed on the cornea, the GAT test is punctual, whereas IOP fluctuates. Thus, GAT IOP in-office testing, offering a 2 to 4-second window of measurements, might not capture maximum IOP, occurring outside the office, at another point. In contrast, HOPES would offer means for self-testing, repeated during a 24-hour period, while avoiding both discomforts and risks to the cornea, since the test is performed on the eyelid. HOPES self-tonometry was also conceived as Bluetooth®-enabled, connected to a mobile device, including tele-health capacity to share data with clinicians (see image below).
Currently undergoing clinical trials, within the National University of Singapore (NUS) Clinical Research Centers, the HOPES sensors and algorithms are patented. The United Nations Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent, WO2020036537A1, titled Method and device for self-measurement of intra-ocular pressure, recites the details of the array sensor technology. A technology designed to capture a plurality of intra-ocular pressures at different positions of an eye, in cooperation with a processor designed to receive the plurality of measures. Measures, which in turn are fed as input to an artificial intelligence learning module, designed to compute an IOP for the eye. The patent also includes results of the reliability testing that was performed to train the artificial intelligence learning module.
Below, the patent Figure 1B depicts a side view of an eye 10, including eyebrow 17 and eyelashes 19. The array of sensors 20, of the self-testing tonometry device 30, are contacting an eyelid 15 for measuring IOP, according to various embodiments of the invention. More specifically, the Figure 1B shows a finger 35, pressing on the force-transfer assembly 25 of the self-testing tonometry device 30, equipped with a flexible member 23, enabling the array of sensors 20 to come into contact with the eyelid 15. When the finger 35 applies force, the array of sensors 20 takes pressure measurements, though the eyelid 15, at the pressure points marked 40 on the eyeball 12.
An image of a marketable embodiment of the invention, being used to self-measure IOP, is included below. The image also shows IOP measurement results posted on a mobile device screen.
The abstract of the HOPES sensor and algorithm invention appears below. The HOPES invention won the International James Dyson Award in 2021.
A self-tonometry device for measuring intra-ocular pressure in an eye of a subject, may include a plurality of sensors and a processor for executing a machine learning module. The plurality of sensors may be arranged in an array for measuring a plurality of pressures at respective positions on an eye of a subject, when the plurality of sensors in the array apply a force to the eye at the respective positions through an eyelid of the subject. The processor may be configured to receive the plurality of pressures at the respective location from the plurality of sensors, and to compute using the machine learning module, an intra-ocular pressure in the eye based on the plurality of pressures measured at the respective positions through the eyelid of the subject. [Abstract WO2020036537A1]
References
Glaucoma Research Foundation – Abouthttps://glaucoma.org/learn-about-glaucoma/
HOPES
https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-US/2021/project/hopes/
No comments:
Post a Comment