Glaucoma
Glaucoma is one of the most common causes of blindness. At the initial stage of development, the patient may not pay attention to subtle symptoms, but their increase gradually leads to irretrievable loss of vision. In the treatment of glaucoma, the responsiveness and early diagnosis of the disease is important.
Main article: Vision
Glaucoma is a chronic progressive degenerative disease of the optic nerve. It leads to a decrease in vision and is considered one of the main causes of irreversible blindness. For 2023, in about 50% of cases, glaucoma is not diagnosed. But even though the disease is incurable, the onset of blindness caused by glaucoma can be prevented.
One of the factors in the development of glaucoma is high eye pressure. The risk of the disease also increases with age. Glaucoma is more common in older adults over the age of 60, but can develop earlier - after the age of 40. People whose direct relatives (father, mother, siblings) suffered from glaucoma, patients with high myopia (more than 6 diopters) or eye injuries are also at risk.
Types of glaucoma and their symptoms
The symptoms of glaucoma depend on its type:
- Narrow-angle glaucoma and acute closed-angle glaucoma occur when the iris prevents the outflow of aqueous moisture. This causes severe eye pain, nausea, vision impairment, the appearance of halos or colored rings around light sources, and redness of the eyes.
- Open-angle glaucoma is characterized by high ocular pressure, but symptoms may not appear in the early stages. For this reason, the disease is usually not diagnosed until it begins to affect vision, namely: spotted blind spots gradually appear in lateral vision, in later stages there are difficulties in seeing objects by central vision.
In most cases, glaucoma is asymptomatic, so it is very difficult to detect this disease without an ophthalmic examination. A regular visit to an ophthalmologist will help to determine the problem in time and maintain eye health.
If the diagnosis is made at an early stage, there is a chance to prevent the consequences. A specialist may prescribe medical treatment with antihypertensive eye drops, laser or surgery.
Spread of the disease
2016: 1.2 million registered patients
By November 2016, according to various sources, there are from 60.5 million to 105 million patients with glaucoma around the world with the prospect of an increase of 10 million in subsequent years. In Russia, about 1.2 million such patients are officially registered.
Chronicle
2024: Gene Therapy Treatment
In mid-September 2024, scientists at Trinity College Dublin unveiled a promising gene therapy to treat glaucoma. Earlier, the same team discovered the possibility of gene therapy for the dry form of age-related macular degeneration, another eye disease leading to blindness.
The new gene therapy has demonstrated a significant effect in studies in animal models and in human cells derived from humans with glaucoma. The new method uses the virus to deliver an advanced gene (eNdi1) developed by the Trinity College team. This therapy should increase the activity of mitochondria, the main cellular "energy generators," and suppress the formation of harmful reactive oxygen species. In particular, this therapy method protected retinal ganglion cells, which play an important role in the formation of visual image, and also improved their functional state in animals. In human retinal cells, gene therapy allowed increased oxygen consumption and energy production, suggesting improved cell performance.
Glaucoma is a multifactorial condition, and many risk factors complicate its treatment. Current treatments for glaucoma boil down to topical eye drops, surgery, or laser therapy. However, the results vary between patients and some do not respond to treatment or have to opt out due to serious side effects. A new gene therapy could help these patients manage the disease.
 | When developing gene therapy methods, one should focus on the possibility of their widespread use, given the high costs of developing each of these methods, said Jane Farrar, professor at Trinity College's School of Genetics and Microbiology. - Our therapy has sufficient potential to conduct trials involving real glaucoma patients.[1] |  |
2023
Sales of glaucoma laser start in the US
Israel-based medical device company Belkin Vision received 510 (k) approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2023 to sell the Eagle laser, designed to treat glaucoma. This was announced on January 22, 2024 by the information and analytical, educational project of the Evercare.ru with reference to the Medical Device Network resource. Read more here.
Mobile app designed to diagnose cataracts and glaucoma in seconds
On July 18, 2023, Spanish researchers from the Open University of Catalonia announced the development of a mobile application called BegIA, which allows the diagnosis of eye diseases in a few seconds. Read more here.
Contact lenses designed to monitor intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients
In mid-May 2023, the California startup Smartlens announced the development of smart ones contact lenses capable of monitoring intraocular pressure in patients with. glaucoma The product was called miLens. More. here
Ophthalmic device for lowering intraocular pressure in surgical treatment of glaucoma was released
On April 2, 2023, Nova Eye Medical announced the launch of the iTrack Advance ophthalmic device to reduce intraocular pressure in the surgical treatment of glaucoma. device is intended for treatment of adult patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. Read more here.
Glaucoma implant released
On April 5, 2023, Celanese International Chemical Corporation announced the conclusion of a cooperation agreement with Glaukos. The goal of the partnership is to increase the effectiveness of the treatment of glaucoma - eye diseases, characterized by a constant or periodic increase in intraocular pressure above an acceptable level. Read more here.
Russia has developed a device for detecting glaucoma at an early stage
Zagorsky Optical-mechanical Plant (ZOMP) has developed an ophthalmic analyzer for early diagnosis of glaucoma. About this, the press service of Rostec (this state corporation includes the Schwabe holding, which, in turn, owns ZOMZ) at the end of March 2023. Read more here.
Lenses designed to monitor and treat glaucoma
At the end of January 2023, Purdue University of America introduced a technology for continuous 24-hour monitoring of intraocular pressure in the human eye. Read more here.
2022: AbbVie buys iSTAR Medical business for $60m
On July 20, 2022, AbbVie announced that it would pay $60 million for the purchase of the Belgian company iSTAR Medical, which is developing a minimally invasive device for glaucoma surgery. Read more here.
2021
Announcement of intraocular pressure analyzer to detect the initial stage of glaucoma
In December 2021, the Schwabe holding presented an ophthalmic analyzer of intraocular pressure to detect the initial stage of glaucoma. The device was developed by the Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant (ZOM; included in Schwab) together with the Research Institute of Eye Diseases. Read more here.
Doctors start using AI diagnosing glaucoma in early stages with 97% accuracy
In early September 2021, doctors began using artificial intelligence that diagnoses glaucoma in the early stages, the diagnostic accuracy is 97%.
Scientists from the Nanyang University of Technology (NTU) of Singapore, in collaboration with doctors from Tan Tok Seng Hospital (TTS), have developed a new method that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect glaucoma. The technology has already begun to be used in clinical practice.
The AI method uses algorithms to differentiate optic nerves in glaucoma from normal ones by analyzing stereo-fundus images, to polygonal two-dimensional retinal images that are combined into a three-dimensional image.
Glaucoma, these are groups of eye diseases that can lead to vision loss and blindness due to damage to the optic nerve in the back of the eye. In most cases, glaucoma is associated with increased intraocular pressure, a condition called ocular hypertension. Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness worldwide, with 111.8 million people globally expected to suffer by 2040, up from 83.7 million for 2021.
When testing stereofundus images of patients from the TTS hospital who underwent an expert examination, the AI method showed 97% accuracy in diagnosing glaucoma.
An automated glaucoma diagnostic method developed by the NTU and TTS and described in a study published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Methods in June 2021 could potentially be used in less developed countries where patients do not have access to ophthalmologists, scientists say. This study is an example of NTU's research efforts as part of a strategic plan to 2025 to be at the forefront of four grand challenges for humanity, one of which is meeting the needs and challenges of healthy living and aging.
| | Many glaucoma patients remain undiagnosed in the community, and in developing countries such as India, the percentage of undiagnosed cases can exceed 90%. Although cases of the disease are usually detected in the course of a routine eye test, screening of the population is difficult due to the need for specialized and expensive equipment or qualified specialists. The process of manually verifying individual retinal images is also time-consuming and depends on subjective assessment by experts. Our method of using AI, by contrast, could potentially be more effective and cost-effective, commented study co-author and head of glaucoma services Dr. Leonard Yip. | |
As of September 9, 2021, the team is testing its algorithms on a larger set of fundus images of patients obtained in the TTS. They are also exploring the possibility of transferring software to a mobile phone app so that when used in combination with a fundus camera or a mobile phone lens adapter, it can become a real tool for screening glaucoma in the field.
The set of algorithms consists of two components: a deep convolution neural network and an attention-driven network. The first simulates the biological process of adapting the human brain to learn new things, and the attention-controlled network simulates the brain's manner to selectively focus on several significant features, in this case the optic nerve head region in fundus images. The outputs of these two components are then combined together to produce a final prediction result.
To create more training samples, the scientists also applied image augmentation, a technique that involves applying random but realistic transformations such as image rotation to increase the diversity of the dataset used to train algorithms, increasing the accuracy of algorithm classification.
The scientists also found that using a pair of stereo images of fundus increased the sensitivity of their screening system. When using single fundus images, the sensitivity of the algorithms was lower from 85% to 86%.[2]
2016: Roselectronics develops apparatus for rapid diagnosis of glaucoma
In November 2016, it became known that the Roselectronics holding is developing an apparatus that has no analogues in Russia for the rapid diagnosis of glaucoma. Its appearance on the market is scheduled for 2018. Read more here.
Notes
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