More to diagnosis than meets the eye
1 December 2001
It is often said that eyes are the windows of the soul. So what exactly do they reveal? The answer can be found by looking through the lens of the award-winning Procyon P2000 Pupillometer.
This offers the medical world a means of diagnosing diseases such as glaucoma, diabetic autonomic neuropathy, optic neuritis and other ophthalmic diseases in their early stages.
The Pupillometer is already regarded as an invaluable research tool in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, dementia and certain cancers and has potential applications in the field of drug-dependence treatment.
The instrument from Procyon Instruments of Berkshire, southern England, has been selected as a millennium product and is the world's first commercial portable instrument for the fast, accurate and objective binocular measurement of the pupil of each eye.
The advantage of pupillometry over many other techniques is that it is objective, noninvasive, painless and offers an accurate and cost-effective means of early diagnosis.
Originally invented by Dr Dan Taylor, the instrument works in a similar way to a normal video camera - but with internal lenses and mirrors - enabling pictures of both eyes to appear simultaneously on the associated laptop computer screen.
Infrared light is used to illuminate the eye, so that measurements can be made in the dark, as well as in normal light.
The use of the pupillometer as a tool for the assessment of drug dependency was developed with Prof Hamid Ghodse at the Department of Addictive Behaviour and Psychological Medicine at St George's Hospital, London.
An opiate addiction test involves the objective measurement of the pupils of both eyes, one of which is stimulated by specially developed drops, while the other remains as normal.
The accurate and objective measurement of the pupils has enormous consequences for the correct treatment of a patient. The test has proved to be very useful for the rapid diagnosis of drug dependence in out-patient clinics and primary healthcare settings.
The instrument has strong export potential, not least among medical staff working in countries where distances between communities and medical services mean that mobile units or flying doctors are essential.
The unique software - PupilFit - also developed by Procyon uses a fast algorithm to fit circles to match the diameter of the pupil images, regardless of whether a complete pupil outline can be seen.
CMT International
United Kingdom
(0944) 207 240 1250
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