Researchers at the University of Bradford have been awarded £1.18m by the Medical Research Council for a project that could improve diagnosis of glaucoma.
Ophthalmologist Dr Jonathan Denniss, an associate professor from the university’s school of optometry and vision science, highlighted that the current detection rates of glaucoma could be improved.
He said glaucoma diagnosis was difficult despite advances in optical coherence tomography and that misidentification of healthy eyes as glaucoma was common, costing the NHS over £36m per year.
A new method developed by the researchers used existing equipment and created 3D images that provided improved diagnostic information.
‘When we tested it on a small group of patients, the technique detected more early defects than existing approaches. It also showed potential to reduce false positives, which means fewer people being referred for treatment unnecessarily,’ Dr Dennis said.
The project will begin in April and will be supported by researcher Dr Riccardo Cheloni, who conducted the initial work on the new technique during his PhD studies.
