Mar 13, 2008 10:58 am US/Mountain
Colorado Doctors Test New Screening For Glaucoma
DENVER (CBS4) ―
Doctors at the Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Institute in Colorado are studying new high-tech tools that could detect glaucoma before it causes vision loss.
The new tools are diagnostic equipment that offer a much sharper image of the eye and help screen for glaucoma.
The procedure, called optical coherence tomography, uses a high-powered laser microscope. The device shines a light into the eye through the pupil and onto the optic nerve.
"It then measures the thickness of the optic nerve and lets us know if tissue is being lost," said Dr. Malik Kahook of the institute.
The new technique can detect even minute changes, which allows doctors intervene much faster.
"It means to the patient that we can possibly stop loss of vision with decreasing pressure which is the primary way of treating glaucoma today," Kahook said.
The microscope was just approved 2 weeks ago by the FDA for imaging of the eye. A newer version being studied would give doctors an even clearer picture.
"So the layers that are being imaged are more precise so that if there were a change within the layers it could potentially be detected earlier," Kahook said.
Doctors at the institute are also researching inject-able medicines to treat the disease for months at a time rather than having to use drops a number of times a day.
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