As I mentioned in a prior blog we have had a positive collaboration with Clarity Medical. Clarity Medical produces specialized cameras that take pictures of the retina. These pictures are used to diagnose eye diseases. One example is the disease Retinopathy of Prematurity or ROP which is increasing due to an increase in pre-mature births (9.4-12.3% between 1981 and 2003). This disease, depending on the severity, may result in blindness in children that are prematurely born (~80,000 per year). Therefore, swift, accurate diagnosis is essential for reducing morbidity and mortality (medical term for suffering).
As it turns out there are very few physicians that are capable of reading these images and are insured to do so. Moreover, the trend is for a shortage of these qualified people. The "ingredients" of limited expertise, distance between an examiner and a specialist, an image capture device, and the need for rapid communication are perfect for leveraging image centered collaboration tools between a examiner (photo taker) and distant physician.
The result of an image centered collaboration allows the knowledge of a few (physicians) to be leveraged over distance to provide valuable consultation without travel, extended stays in expensive neonatal extensive care units (NICU) and so on.
The benefits of using distant image collaboration like VisualStrata ™ for ROP diagnosis include:
- Faster diagnosis
- Improved outcomes; less suffering
- Reduced cost for transportation, hospital stays
- Lower malpractice/legal costs
- Leveraging existing knowledge of critical care units
