Scotland has introduced automated retinopathy screening technology to help practitioners assess the retinas of diabetics.
The Scottish Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Collaborative (SDRSC) recently introduced the i-Grading software (produced by Medalytix) which is able to rapidly detect localised changes in an image and so detect microaneurysms and haemorrhagic changes that might otherwise be missed by the naked eye. Recent studies have tended to show that such automated systems either match or are more able to detect early lesions (British Journal of Ophthalmology, 15 May 2007, doi:10.1136/bjo.2007.119453) when compared to manual screening.
With increased demand upon screening services likely, as the prevalence of the disease continues to increase, such technology is hoped to boost the efficiency of screening programmes.