November 30, 2015
...AND CHEAPER...:
This Simple Tablet-Based Eye Test Could Help Cure A Lot More Blindness (Ben Schiller, 11/30/15, Co.exist)
Mobile technology has the potential to slash the cost of medical care, spreading access to millions of people around the world. A host of procedures that once needed expensive equipment--from blood tests to ultrasounds--can now be performed with phones and mobile device attachments, and more categories are coming.Ceeable's tablet-based eye-test is a case in point. It replaces a clinical machine that normally costs between $25,000 and $35,000 and offers a similar level of accuracy, according to peer-reviewed research. It could help diagnose a greater number of people with serious retinal conditions like macular degeneration and glaucoma, and save a lot of money doing it. [...]Ceeable's test is an electronic version of the standard Amsler Grid, where patients are asked which parts of a chart are distorted. Patients are set up between 15 and 17 inches in front of a tablet, and then told to trace areas with their fingers, indicating areas that are blurred. Then, Ceeable lowers the contrast level for a series of further tests, eventually generating a "3-D topographical contour map" of each eye.
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 30, 2015 5:55 PM