Phase II year
2021
(last award dollars: 2022)
Phase II Amount
$1,615,479
Ophthalmic imaging is of critical importance to ocular disease management and, increasingly, as a window toneurodegenerative and systemic diseases. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is its most important modality, but alsoits most problematic in terms of interoperability, storage and unified analyses. Much of this is to do with incompatibleinstruments and data formats. Rapid advances in radiology resulted from the DICOM standardization of image data,facilitating more collaborative work, better data insight, device independence and innovative developments that todayhave spawned multiple independent vendors offering processing and archival solutions. For OCT, no such solution existsand, as a direct result, despite being the standard of care, the clinical data remains under-utilized and the researchfragmented. Open formats reduce overall costs and can ultimately lead to better patient outcomes.This project will establish the first, commercial grade, cloud-based, truly vendor neutral, DICOM compliant, image andinformation storage and processing platform for ophthalmic OCT. The proposed system will bring the functionality,interoperability, and innovation of radiology to ophthalmology. The project has the following clear and achievablemilestones: 1) Develop Nebula, a cloud-based, DICOM-compliant, image storage and archive platform. This will be builtwith security as the primary consideration and will natively support patient management systems. 2) Add a web-basedanalysis front-end to Nebula optimized for clinical ophthalmic workflows. 3) Build on our Phase I award, and implement,validate and release AI-based AMD prognostics, OCT-angiography analytics and retinal fluid quantification software. 4)Apply for regulatory approval for both Nebula's picture archiving and communications (PACS) for ophthalmology and thefluid quantification module. This will allow for clinical use of the system and serve as a platform for a wide variety ofophthalmic and neurologic research.We have received significant interest in the proposed work from researchers, ophthalmologists, and optometrists. And,toward these ends, we have assembled a team of experts to manage, implement, validate, and release this software. Thatis, to achieve all the aims presented.
Public Health Relevance Statement: NARRATIVE:
This project will build the first cloud-based, truly vendor neutral, DICOM compliant, image and
information storage and processing platform for ophthalmic optical coherence tomography
(OCT) imagery. It will bring the functionality, interoperability, and AI-enabled innovation of
radiology to ophthalmology. It will speed up the pace of innovation, support telemedicine, and,
ultimately, offer better patient outcomes for diseases such as AMD, diabetic retinopathy,
glaucoma, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and MS - diseases that affect millions of Americans.
Project Terms: