Doctors develop 'blackberry-sized' sight testing kit

"Two medical scientists at NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde’s Gartnavel General Hospital have developed what they claim is the UK’s most advanced eye screening system.

Doctors Stuart Parks and David Keating unveiled their pioneering development, the equivalent of a cardiogram for the eye, at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) general meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last weekend, where they said their system can potentially save peoples’ eyesight because of its early detection technology.

The software developed by the two medical physicists provides diagnosis and monitoring of retinal problems at an early stage, including tunnel vision problems, vein occlusions or blockages.

It is achieved by plugging a machine little bigger than a blackberry into a PC, and in future they hope a simplified version may be available at High Street opticians, with representatives from Scottish Health Innovations Ltd (SHIL) marketing its commercial potential.
Dr Parks and Dr Keating, based at the Tennent Institute of Ophthalmology within the hospital, have spent 14 years refining their system, known as multifocal electrophysiology.

Key is the computer software which interprets many electronic signals sent from different areas of the retina."