Madison Office: 256-464-6670
Huntsville Office: 256-880-1966
After Hours: 256-714-2030

Madison Office: 256-464-6670
Huntsville Office: 256-880-1966
After Hours: 256-714-2030

OCT

A New way to analyze ocular disease.

The STRATUS/OCT is a diagnostic imaging device that provides direct cross sectional images of the retina for objective measurement and subjective clinical evaluation in the detection of glaucoma and retinal diseases. THE STRATUS/OCT images and analyzes macular thickness, the retinal nerve fiber layer and the optic disc using the latest technology for high resolution scans.

Simple eye-scan test could track progress of MS
By Julie Steenhuysen Mon Oct 15, 4:27 PM ET

A quick eye scan might offer an inexpensive, painless way to track the progression of multiple sclerosis, U.S. researchers said on Monday. By scanning nerve fibers of the retina in the back of the eye, researchers were able to detect and measure brain shrinkage, a marker of disease progression.

"This appears to be a great way of monitoring the disease," said Dr. Peter Calabresi, director of the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis Center in Baltimore.

Multiple sclerosis or MS is thought to be an auto-immune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the fat and protein myelin sheaths that protect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. MS symptoms may include numbness or weakness in one or more limbs, partial or complete vision loss, paralysis, tingling or pain, tremors and an unsteady gait. Nerves in the eye that lead to the optic nerve do not have this coating, allowing doctors to examin the nerve directly...

"You are actually looking at brain nerves," he said in a telephone interview.

Calabresi and colleagues used an imaging technique called optical coherence tomography [OCT], a non-invasive procedure in which light waves are bounced off the retinal layers at the back of the eye, creating high resolution, cross-sectional images. Researchers tested the technique on 40 MS patients, measuring the thickness of the optic nerve, which is affected early on in the disease, often before patients experience brain damage. They compared these scans to those of 15 healthy patients. Then, they cross-checked their results with brain scans made using magnetic resonance imaging, a more costly type of scan that uses powerful magnets and radio waves... The researchers believe optical scans could be used in conjunction with MRI scans, allowing doctors an [inexpensive] way to track disease progression more frequently... There is no cure for MS, which affects more than 1 million people worldwide, including an estimates 400,000 people in the United States.