Article from: American Academy of Ophthalmology
Authors: Patrick Burchell, Aparna Ramasubramanian MD, María Eliana Manquez MD
About the paper:
Purpose: The presence of red pupillary reflex, with central fixation is an indirect sign of healthy vision.
Smartphones and cameras have inbuilt red reflex blocking. MDEyeCare, is a new app available for iOS that is designed to view the red pupillary reflex in non-dilated children.
Methods: In this pilot study, 257 children were screened with the new app and results were compared to dilated ophthalmic exam with cycloplegic retinoscopy.
Results: The average age was 6.5 years (3 months – 12 years) and 56% were males. There were 25% whites, 20% blacks, 50% Hispanics, 3.5% Asians and 1.5% mixed race.
The app diagnosed amblyogenic refractive error in 91% of patients and detected abnormal fundus finding in 6/7 patients (diffuse choroidal hemangioma was not detected by the app).
Conclusion: Photoscreening with the new app, has a good correlation especially in white and hispanic patients. For patients with darker pigmentation the app needs to be optimized and larger studies to determine sensitivity is required.
About MD Eyecare in this paper:
MDEyeCare, an app available for iOS is a simple to use tool for nonophthalmologists and detected amblyogenic refractive errors in 91% patients, detected leukocoria in all patients including 4 patients with retinoblastoma and 2 patients with Coats disease.
