SyncThink’s Eye-Sync features a modified VR headset to track eye movement in order to diagnose concussions. (pics via Syncthink)
Getting a concussion is a series issue that can lead to a host of additional health issues, including physical, cognitive and emotional trauma. It’s estimated that 6 in 1,000 people suffer a concussion annually with most occurring while playing sports and during bicycle and automobile accidents (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concussion). Diagnosing a concussion early allows medical professionals to begin treatment that much quicker, thereby reducing the systems listed above and reducing the long-term effects it may have on those that receive one.
Diagnosing a concussion usually involves looking for physical symptoms that include exactly what you’d think it would- headache, loss of consciousness, vomiting, confusion and pupil dilation. Most of the time the diagnosis is done in a hospital emergency room or on the way in an ambulance, however a new portable device from SyncThink can help diagnose a concussion right on the spot when needed.
The Eye-Sync features a modified VR headset to track eye movement for cognitive diagnosing a concussion.
Known as the Eye-Sync, the device is capable of diagnosing a concussion in just one minute by tracking the patient’s eye movement. More scientifically speaking, it focuses on the patient’s ability to focus their eyes on a target- in this case a rotating red dot in VR space. The process is pretty straightforward; the patient puts on the modified VR headwear and waits for the system to calibrate itself (about a few seconds) to the patient’s visual metrics.
Once calibrated, the patient tries to track a red circle rotating around a larger circle. The resulting data is then sent to a connected tablet (a Microsoft Surface) where the data is correlated against a baseline table and then displays the results as a heat-map of where the patient was looking. Essentially, if the patient can draw a heat-map circle closely resembling the VR circle, they should be OK, however if it looks like a 2-yearolds representation of a Jackson Pollack painting, then you’ve likely suffered a concussion.
SyncThink has already gained FDA approval for their Eye-Sync system and Stanford University’s Cardinals have already adopted it for use in helping their players. It’s only a matter of time now before professional sports teams and health professionals gain the system as well.
University of Oxford surgeons use Robotic Retinal Dissection Device (R2D2) to perform first robotic-assisted intraocular surgery. (via ox.ac.uk)
Continuing on with the tech-related eye news- Surgeons from the University of Oxford have successfully performed the first ever intraocular surgery with the help of a robotic assistant. The procedure, performed by Robert MacLaren (Professor of Ophthalmology) on Revd. Dr. William Beaver is carried-out in the eye rather than on it and requires a super-steady hand.
That steady hand belonged to Preceyes BV’s Robotic Retinal Dissection Device, otherwise known as R2D2. Think of it as a mechanical hand that features seven independent computer controlled motors outfitted with a bevy of surgical instruments on a tiny scale and designed to mitigate the slightest human hand tremors. Tiny enough to perform keyhole surgery inside the eye, which is accessed by a single sub-millimeter hole. In this case, it was used to lift a membrane just a 100th of a millimeter thick from the retina in back of Beaver’s right eye.
Professor MacLaren manipulated the robot using a combination of joystick and tablet interface while viewing the procedure using an operating microscope. This allows the surgeon to translate his physical movements using the robotic-like hand on a precision level down to 1000th of a millimeter if the need arises. The procedure was performed to correct Dr. Beaver’s eyesight that was distorted due to a membrane growing on the underside of his retina.
While the procedure was successful, it is still undergoing trials (12 in total), each more complex in terms of procedure with the next being to use it to inject fluid under the retina. As gruesome as it may sound, it could pave the way for gene therapy, which could treat certain conditions that can cause blindness or even restore or give sight to those currently blind.
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