Compact, cost-effective, and operator-friendly fundus camera for early detection

描述（由申请人提供）： 为了降低可预防的失明率，随着美国和世界各地人口的老龄化，筛查可治疗的眼病变得越来越重要。早期发现和诊断对于保护视网膜和视神经功能至关重要。 目前，常规的眼睛检查由高度熟练的从业者使用复杂且昂贵的眼科设备来执行。因此，无法获得熟练从业人员的患者面临视力丧失的风险。此外，在许多情况下，捕获和存储眼睛后部的图像对于良好的眼科护理至关重要。传统的眼底照相机价格昂贵，体积庞大，并且还需要熟练的技术人员来操作。虽然所记录的图像通常具有高质量，但是当前的眼底照相机并不很好地适于筛查和运输。 为了满足对用于视网膜和视神经疾病的筛查、早期诊断和随访的准确、用户友好、耐用、手持式和便携式相机系统的需求，需要一种新的负担得起的成像系统。该阶段I SBIR申请提出通过概念化手持式笔式眼底照相机的设计来解决这些需求。这种相机在同一外壳内包含光学和电子部件。操作员将照相机的前透镜与患者的角膜接触。聚焦、图像采集和分析由相机自动执行。摄像机通过音频信号通知操作员图像采集成功。所获取的图像或者显示在一个小的集成屏幕上，或者无线传输到附近的计算机，以便进行更全面的检查和存储。 第一阶段的工作旨在开发和构建安装在同一手持结构中的相机的成像和照明路径。原型相机的其他部分，如照明源和电子设备，将位于台式设置中，图像分析由PC执行。使用构建的原型，将在体内进行一些初步的眼底成像。 该项目的成果是一个小型台式原型平台与手持单位，将作为一个发射台的小型化工作计划在第二阶段。进行的研究将确定相机的实用性和易用性，以及确定获得高质量视网膜图像的潜在问题和解决方案。在第一阶段结束时，手持视网膜相机的可行性将得到证明。 公共卫生相关性： 所提出的紧凑型手持式医疗摄像机提供了一种可靠且简单的方法来进行人类视网膜的常规检查。一旦正确定位在散瞳的眼睛上，它会自动获取视网膜和视神经的高质量图像，使医疗专业人员能够识别和跟踪常见的视力威胁疾病。在大多数情况下，经过培训的用户可以获得孤立、偏远和服务不足地区患者的可接受眼底图像，从而降低医疗成本和严重视力丧失率。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In order to reduce rates of preventable blindness, screening for treatable eye diseases has become increasingly important as the population ages in the United States and around the world. Early detection and diagnosis is vital to preserve retinal and optic nerve function. Currently, routine eye examinations are performed by highly skilled practitioners using complex and expensive ophthalmic devices. As a result, patients without access to skilled practitioners are at risk for visual loss. Additionally, capturing and storing images of the back of the eye is critical to good ophthalmic care in many cases. Traditional fundus cameras are expensive, large and also require a skilled technician to operate. While the recorded images are in general of high quality, current fundus cameras are not well adapted to screening and transport. In order to address the need for an accurate, user-friendly, durable, hand-held and portable camera system for screening, early diagnosis and follow up of retinal and optic nerve diseases, a new affordable imaging system is required. This Phase I SBIR application proposes to address these needs by conceptualizing the design of a hand- held pen-sized fundus camera. Such camera contains optical and electronic components within the same housing. The operator brings the front lens of the camera into contact with the patient's cornea. The focusing, image acquisition and analysis is performed automatically by the camera. The camera notifies the operator of successful image acquisition by an audio signal. The acquired image or images are either displayed on a small integrated screen or transmitted wirelessly to a nearby computer for a more though inspection and storage. The Phase I work is aimed at developing and constructing the imaging and illumination paths of the camera housed in the same hand-held structure. Other parts of the out-of-form prototype camera, such as illumination sources and electronics, will be located in a bench-top setting, and image analysis is performed by a PC. Using the constructed prototype, some preliminary fundus imaging will be performed in-vivo. The outcome of the project is a small bench top prototype platform with a hand- held unit that will serve as a launching pad for miniaturization efforts scheduled in Phase II. The conducted research will determine the practicality and ease of use of the camera, as well as determine the potential problems and solutions for obtaining good quality retinal images. At the conclusion of Phase I the feasibility of the hand-held retina camera will be demonstrated. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed compact hand-held medical camera provides a dependable and simple way of conducting routine inspections of the human retina. Once properly positioned on a dilated eye, it automatically acquires high quality images of the retina and optic nerve that allow a medical professional to identify and follow common vision threatening disorders. In the majority of cases a trained user can obtain acceptable fundus images on patients in isolated, remote and underserved regions thereby reducing medical costs and rates of severe visual loss.