Eye implant to monitor glaucoma
15 August 2007 A sensor for implanting in the eye to monitor glaucoma by
measuring pressure in the eye's interior has been developed by researchers
at Purdue University. The
pressure sensor, which is placed between two layers of tissue in the eye,
measures the interocular pressure and transmits the information to an
external receiver so pressure can be continuously monitored.
"Glaucoma is one of the big two irreversible, but preventable, causes of
blindness,"
said Pedro Irazoqui, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. The disease causes blindness from a build-up of fluid
pressure in the interior chamber of the eye, killing fibres in the optic
nerve. Glaucoma patients go to the doctor periodically to have their eye
pressure checked. If it is high, the doctor prescribes medication or
performs surgery. "The problem is that your interocular pressure spikes
over hours, sometimes minutes," Irazoqui said. "So you can be fine today and
fine in six months and spend three months in the middle where it's very
high, killing your optic nerve. What you really need to do is check it
often, every couple of minutes, but you can't go to the doctor every couple
of minutes for the rest or your life. So what you need is a device that
measures your eye pressure continuously." Collaborating on the research is
Babak Ziaie, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering,
working at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park. The Purdue researchers are planning to conduct
animal trials by December and human trials within 18 months. The device is
fully implantable and includes a battery. A paper on the project
will be presented at the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society's
Sciences and Technologies for Health conference from Aug. 23-26 in Lyon,
France. To top
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