AI-backed test could lead to early detection of glaucoma progression

Researchers have discovered a new test that can detect glaucoma progression 18 months earlier than the currently used gold standard method. The clinical trial conducted by UCL researchers was published in the Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics. Glaucoma, the world’s leading cause of irreversible blindness, affects more than 60 million people, expected to double by 2040 as the world’s population ages. Vision loss in glaucoma is caused by the death of cells in the retina, in the back of the eye. The test, called DARC (Detection of Apoptotic Retinal Cells), involves injecting a fluorescent dye into the bloodstream (through the arm) that attaches to the retinal cells, illuminating those that are undergoing apoptosis, a form of death. programmed cell phone. Damaged cells appear bright white when viewed on eye exams: the more damaged cells are detected, the higher the DARC count will be. One challenge in evaluating eye diseases is that specialists often disagree when viewing the same scans, so researchers have incorporated an AI algorithm into their method.