Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have unveiled an AI-driven breakthrough in predicting retinal detachment risks, offering a nuanced approach that goes beyond traditional glasses prescriptions.
A groundbreaking combination of routine eye scans and artificial intelligence (AI) has paved the way for a novel and far more precise method of assessing short-sightedness, promising to revolutionize the prevention of severe retinal damage.
In a recent study, researchers from the University of Edinburgh demonstrated how this new technique, driven by AI, could better predict the long-term risk of retinal detachment or tears by considering subtle changes in the retina that are often overlooked by conventional glasses prescriptions.
By analyzing health data and retinal images of over 9,300 participants from the UK Biobank, the researchers developed a new measure known as the Fundus Refraction Offset (FRO). The FRO score evaluates the structural appearance of an individual’s retina relative to what conventional prescriptions suggest it should look like.
The findings, published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, reveal that individuals whose retinas appeared more short-sighted than expected — based on their prescription — faced a significantly increased risk of retinal complications, even with similar baseline prescriptions, ages and other factors.
“Our study supports moving beyond glasses prescription alone and taking into account retinal information when describing myopia severity,” principal investigator Fabian Yii, from the Robert O Curle Ophthalmology Suite in the Institute of Regeneration and Repair at the University of Edinburgh, said in a news release. “Given the limitations of current descriptors of myopia severity, most notably glasses prescription, in effectively capturing an individual’s risks of myopic complications, this research represents an important step in allowing care to be targeted more effectively for the increasing number of people affected by myopia.”
The implications of this groundbreaking study are substantial.
With over 1 billion people worldwide affected by short-sightedness — a number projected to rise to nearly 50% of the global population by 2050 — the potential for reducing vision loss through tailored management is significant.
Currently, individuals with severe short-sighted prescriptions are 13 times more likely to suffer from retinal detachment compared to those without myopia, although the risks can greatly vary even among people with similar prescriptions.
The FRO score’s predictive power can also be instrumental in guiding decisions surrounding elective procedures like laser eye surgery and clear lens exchange, which might pose a heightened risk to certain patients based on their retinal vulnerabilities, irrespective of their prescription strength.
Source: University of Edinburgh