SBIR-STTR Award

The proposed research intends to design and build an instrument of accurately measure centrally located pathological areas of non-vision, or central scotomas, within the 30 to 60 degrees field of vision. The new device is intended to serve as a supplement to commercially available automatic perimeters, which are known to be inaccurate when retinal defects are confined to the central field of vision. The device used in a novel technique that enables a patient that suffers from a central defect to maintain central fixation, thereby producing measurements of their central and paracentral visual field with unprecedented accuracy. It is anticipated that the device will be able to gather data on patients even when the retinal defect lies in the area required to fixate. The device will consist of both hardware and software, ant the test administered to the patient will be similar to available automatic perimeter, which include computerized algorithms resulting in a rapid test, storage and analysis of data, and a variety of test options. Initial validation of the device will be done through testing a select group of patients with central defects. The measurement results from these patients will be compared with other types of visual field devices used commonly today. It is the intent that the Campimeter be made available to the practitioner, by keeping the cost of the commercial unit inline with comparable ophthalmic instruments. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Once complete and developed, the device will be well suited for a clinic or private practice. The inability to measure and map central scotomas has been a long-standing problem with clinicians. Now more than ever, with the aging population and the subsequent increase in macular degeneration, the wide variety of refractive procedures, as well as numerous retinal pathologies, there is a consistent need for the accurate mapping of central scotomas. The ability to measure and map, track changes, and quantify treatment modalities, will be monumental in diagnosing, following and managing macular and retinal diseases. The anticipated moderate cost of the complete instrument will make it available to a wide variety of clinicians, and will not be limited to a research environment. If properly designed, engineered, and tested, the ultimate hope is for wide spread use and early detection and management of central field defects.

Continuation of the research for the Computerized Campimeter will lead to a device that will, for the first time in a modern setting, allow for measurement of the visual field when a central scotoma exists. The device will be ultimately used by a clinic, and therefore it will be designed such that its cost and operation will be in-line with commercially available automatic perimeters. The primary differences between the Computerized, Campimeter and conventional automatic perimeters is specially designed hardware that will maintain fixation in patients with pathological areas of non-vision that include the exact center of the field. The software developed for the Computerized Campimeter contains sophisticated algorithms that have the ability to precisely define a scotoma, without statistically fabricating data, thereby making comparison tests more reliable. The software does so in a test-time that is equivalent with commercial automatic perimeters. During the Phase II research a more sophisticated prototype will be developed along with pre-production models, and these units will be compared side-by-side with automatic perimeters and more sophisticated instruments such as the Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope. When the device is in production, cost estimates predict that it will be affordable to practitioners - to both ophthalmologists and optometrists. The completed device will be able determine the character and extent of centrally located visual field defects in diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, following the fate of laser treated diabetics, following newer surgeries of the macular larea, following macular edema, retinal defects including retinal holes and tears, the effectiveness of treatment of 'wet' AMD through Photo-Dynamic Therapy, and pituitary and visual pathway tumors.

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