Screening for uveitis in children with JIA using OCT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Anterior segment Optical Coherence Tomography: An improved method for detecting anterior uveitis in children?
IRAS ID
179503
Contact name
William A Innes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Uveitis is a blinding but treatable inflammatory eye disease that occurs in 10% of children with Juvenile Idopathic Arthritis (JIA). There are around 7500 children at risk of developing blinding eye disease in the UK.
Often JIA uveitis does not produce symptoms in children. Screening for uveitis in children with JIA is therefore mandatory in the UK. The current clinical examination method uses the powerful light beam of a slit lamp biomicroscope to search for inflammatory cells floating in the fluid inside the eye. This takes around 10 minutes, requires considerable skill, is expensive and is often poorly tolerated.
We believe uveitis can be detected in children using an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) eye scan which takes seconds, is well tolerated and requires little operator skill. OCT is a mature technology established in contemporary ophthalmic practice which uses safe infra-red (invisible) light to generate images of intra-ocular structures similar to the way ultrasound waves are used in medical imaging. The shorter wavelength of light allows for very detailed images. Our system can resolve objects around 5-10µm, making it possible to identify individual inflammatory cells within the transparent fluid of the eye, indicative of inflammation/uveitis. The ability of OCT to detect inflammatory cells in the anterior chamber of adult eyes has already been demonstrated but this method has not been validated in children with uveitis.
We will run a pilot study comparing the ability of OCT to detect inflammatory cells in children with uveitis against the current gold standard. We will develop software to automate the process of image analysis and cell counting on OCT scans and seek to improve our understanding of patient and family issues surrounding uveitis screening by the two methods by way of questionnaires and interviews.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1413
Date of REC Opinion
30 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion