Imaging Focal Hypoxia in Diabetic Retinopathy

描述(申请人提供)：糖尿病视网膜病变是美国工作年龄失明的主要原因。在这些患者中，视网膜内有新血管的病理性生长。这些形成不良的血管破裂，出血进入视网膜，模糊了视力。目前对这些患者的治疗是检测新生血管形成并消融血管周围的组织，意在减少或消除进一步的血管生成反应。有人认为，局部组织缺氧会形成新的血管，但目前还不可能确定视网膜中缺氧的局部区域。氧气企业已经开发出一种安全、准确和健壮的方法，能够检测组织中的局灶性缺氧。通过第一阶段SBIR Grant，该公司计划将他们的技术应用于理解和测量眼睛视网膜中的氧气。最初的应用将在生物医学研究中。长期目标将是将这项技术应用于临床实践，使临床医生能够更早、更有效地诊断和治疗糖尿病视网膜病变患者。该公司建议开发一种磷光寿命成像系统，该系统将为临床医生提供一种光学成像方法，生成地形图，清楚地识别缺氧的焦点区域，并将其与正常氧区域区分开来。在第一阶段，该公司建议合成克量的新氧磷(荧光粉)，用于临床前测试，并构建一种用于眼科研究的微创成像系统。成像系统将被组装和改装，用于测量小猪和大鼠两个动物模型的视网膜氧含量，现有的成像软件将被修订为技术上胜任的和用户友好的操作系统。氧气企业的成像系统预计将提供对视网膜组织局部缺氧的灵敏和具体的检测和量化--预计这将使视网膜病变得到更早和更准确的诊断--以及一个高度稳定和可靠的诊断系统，提供清晰和明确的视网膜病理显示。重点将是使该系统对用户友好，并以合理的费用提供它。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working age Americans. In these patients there is pathologic growth of new blood vessels in the inner retina. These poorly formed blood vessels burst, bleeding into the retina and obscuring vision. Current treatment for these patients is to detect the neovascular formations and ablate tissue around the vessels, intending to reduce or eliminate further angiogenic response. It is proposed that new blood vessels are formed in response to local tissue hypoxia, but it is not possible at this time to identify focal areas of hypoxia in the retina. Oxygen Enterprises has developed a safe, accurate and robust method that is capable of detecting focal hypoxia in tissues. Through this Phase I SBIR Grant, the company proposes to apply their technology to the understanding and measuring oxygen in the retina of the eye. Initial application will be in biomedical research. Longer term goals will be to apply this technology into clinical practice, allowing clinicians to diagnose and treat patients with diabetic retinopathy earlier and more effectively. The company proposes to develop a phosphorescence lifetime imaging system that will provide an opticalmethod for the clinician that yields a topographic map, clearly identifying focal areas of hypoxia and differentiating them from areas of normoxia. During Phase 1 the company proposes to synthesize gram quantities of a new Oxyphors (phosphor) for suitable for pre-clinical testing and to construct a minimally invasive imaging system for use in ophthalmological research. The imaging system will be assembled and adapted for measuring oxygen in the retina of two animal models, piglets and rats, and the existing imaging software will be revised into a technically competent and user-friendly operating system. Oxygen Enterprises' imaging system is expected to offer sensitive and specific detection and quantification of focal hypoxia in retinal tissue - which is anticipated to allow earlier and more accurate diagnosis of retinopathy - and a diagnostic system with high stability and reliability, providing a clear and unambiguous display of retinal pathology. Emphasis will be on making the system user friendly and on providing it at a reasonable cost.