corneal imaging to monitor disease progression and/or treatments
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A study to determine if the iris camera can be used to diagnose and monitor corneal disease and treatment outcomes
IRAS ID
227987
Contact name
Tariq Aslam
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 3 months, 31 days
Research summary
The cornea is the outer layer at the front of the eye and its transparency is essential for vision. If transparency is compromised by injury or disease vision is reduced and can lead to blindness. To treat such conditions it is important to be able to assess the loss of clarity. Imaging systems normally used to measure corneal haze cannot get accurate reading in badly damaged corneas so a more robust system would be beneficial in treating these patients. The iris camera is an imaging system designed to image the the eye.New software developed in Manchester enables the level of corneal clarity to be quantified frm these images.
The main purpose of this study is to determine if the iris camera can give additional or improved information on corneal disease through an accurate clouding measurement than is currently available. We plan to use new corneal opacification measurements (COM) image processing software to evaluate iris camera images. Imaging forms the basic foundation in corneal assessment, therefore, with the use of this novel technique and software increasing the level of opacity quantifiable, where existing imaging systems fail, may assist in evaluating, monitoring and management corneal diseases.
We intend to apply this new imagining and computer program to estimate the clarity of the cornea in both in health and disease. We will use iris camera imaging on all patients with loss of corneal clarity attending the corneal clinics in the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. This will include patients with corneal dystrophies, keratoconus, corneal graft rejection and other corneal clouding. These patients will have both Pentacam and confocal images taken as part of their normal clinic visit. We will compare the iris camera data to the data obtained by these routinely taken images.
When a cornea is affected by disease, it's layers lose their integrity which affects its transparency. If incorrectly treated the decrease in clarity could lead to a permanent loss of vision and a corneal transplant may be the only option available . Currently, there are no protocols of assessment that can provide a numerical estimate of the clarity of severely clouded corneas. Therefore, the measure of clouding taken from iris camera images with this new COM software may provide an accurate estimate of the extent of disease or damage of the cornea not currently available hence ensuring the appropriate treatment is applied.
REC name
West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/WM/0265
Date of REC Opinion
23 Oct 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion