- The device scans the nerves at the front of the eye, not the back
- Hopefully the AI element of the device will be able to predict future damage
Artificial intelligence could detect a serious complication of diabetes by scanning a patient’s eyes.
Researchers from the University of Liverpool and Manchester Metropolitan University are optimizing the devices currently used by metropolitan opticians to detect diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN).
It works by scanning the nerves at the front of the eye rather than the back, with the device’s AI element being able to predict future damage.
dr Uazman Alam, of the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences, said: “What we know from a body of work that I have been very closely involved with over the past 15 to 20 years is that “nerves at the front of the eyes actually reflect nerve damage elsewhere in the body.”
DPN is a major complication of diabetes and the leading cause of limb amputation in diabetics.
Researchers from the University of Liverpool and Manchester Metropolitan University are optimizing the devices currently used by metropolitan opticians to detect diabetic peripheral neuropathy ((File image of a doctor examining a patient’s eye)
It occurs when high blood sugar levels damage the nerves that send messages from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body.
The team was awarded £1.4million to develop the new device, which is essentially a redesigned optical coherence tomography (OCT) machine, a tool used by opticians to scan the back of the eye.
The test currently used to detect sensory disturbances in the limbs of diabetics is called the 10-gram monofilament.
But the researchers say the “crude” screening, which measures the nerves in a person’s foot, currently misses many people with the condition.
dr Alam said: “At the moment [patients] are being studied, but the tests we use are not sensitive. We hope this will be much more sensitive.
“Rather than having to measure the nerves, we can use the whole picture to see the nerve damage and actually predict who will have it.”
In June, a study suggested that more than a billion people worldwide could be living with diabetes in the coming decades.
The article, published by the journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, says approximately 1.3 billion people will have diabetes by 2050 – more than double the 529 million cases in 2021.
DPN is a major complication of diabetes and the leading cause of limb amputation in diabetics (stock image of a doctor examining a patient’s eye)
It is hoped that the study will be completed in 2027, eventually leading to a pilot clinical validation study in healthy and diabetic volunteers at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool.
dr Alam predicts that AI “will eventually be an important aspect of all healthcare systems” but “needs to be further developed” before it becomes widespread.
“I think we have to keep in mind that AI isn’t just images that we’re talking about, it’s also data,” he said.
“It’s here to stay.” We have to develop it in an ethical way.
“I think it’s important and I think it probably needs to be taught in medical schools as well. It’s going to be ingrained in the healthcare system.”
AI could be used to detect serious complications of diabetes by scanning a patient’s eyes