Hyderabad: Smartphones are proving to be a cost-effective way of screening diabetic retinopathy, according to a study conducted by Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. It has found the result to be 99.1 per cent accurate. The retinal imaging, with artificial intelligence, helps the machine to recognise specific patterns in images.
Dr R. Rajalakshmi, whose study has been published in the International Journal Eye explained, “Use of automated Artificial Intelligence, through smartphone based retinal imaging, helps in detecting retinopathy and sight threatening diabetic retinopathy.
The study has looked into the accuracy of automated Artificial Intelligence and the results were proved to be accurate. In the case of diabetic retinopathy, diagnosis was 99.1 per cent accurate.”
The technique involves the use of Artificial Intelligence for grading retinal images of people with diabetes. The grading is carried out by the machine and the critical ones can be referred to an ophthalmologist.
Diabetic retinopathy is a preventable disease but the only catch is that it must be detected early and there must be timely treatment. There is 90 per cent vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy when not detected on time. One out of five Indians with diabetes are at a risk of developing diabetic retinopathy. The use of smartphones is expected to make diagnosis easy and also cost-effective for patients.
