AI-supported test could lead to early detection of glaucoma progression

Researchers have discovered a new test that can detect glaucoma progression 18 months earlier than the gold standard method used currently. The clinical trial by UCL researchers was published in the journal Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics. Glaucoma, the leading global cause of irreversible blindness, affects over 60 million people, which is predicted to double by 2040 as the global population ages. Loss of sight in glaucoma is caused by the death of cells in the retina, at the back of the eye. The test, called DARC (Detection of Apoptosing Retinal Cells), involves injecting into the bloodstream (via the arm) a fluorescent dye that attaches to retinal cells and illuminates those that are in the process of apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death. The damaged cells appear bright white when viewed in eye examinations -- the more damaged cells detected, the higher the DARC count. One challenge with evaluating eye diseases is that specialists often disagree when viewing the same scans, so the researchers have incorporated an AI algorithm into their method.