Clinicians seek ambitious goal

Research into an eye test that could one day help prevent heart attacks has received a A$300,000 (128,000) grant from drugs giant Pfizer.

Associate professor Tien Wong and colleagues at the Centre for Eye Research Australia at the University of Melbourne are in the advanced stages of research into early signs of heart disease visible in the eye.

'It is an ambitious goal but our ultimate aim is to develop a web-based system from which optometrists and ophthalmologists can upload images which will then be assessed for retinal markers of future cardiovascular disease,' said Wong.

Development of the imaging system follows Wong's research which demonstrated that subtle damage to vessels in the retina can predict cardiovascular disease.