You may have seen a recent TV advert where a barber, under the watchful eye of ubiquitous actor Kevin Bacon, is able to, by means of electronic gloves and WiFi, wet shave a customer seated atop a mountain many miles from his shop. I was reminded of this recently when I heard of the imminent launch at this year’s Mido of the new Eyoto Theia, the world’s first remote digital slit lamp platform. As well as adding an optometric element to the game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (always worth playing), the Theia offers the opportunity for a patient to be assessed from another room in a practice, another city, another country, or even another continent.
Eyoto
Since its launch in 2013, as a spinout from my old alma mater Aston University, the Birmingham-based company Eyoto has evolved from software developer to equipment manufacturer and provider of technology solutions. Their speciality is in image processing, computer vision, machine learning, semi-automation, artificial intelligence and ophthalmic user interface design. Named after the Greek titan Theia, goddess of sight, the new slit-lamp system from Eyoto marks a major step forward for the company.
Theia
The Theia (figure 1) removes the need for an optometrist to be present in the same room or even at the same time. The Theia remote digital optical imaging system features a 4K resolution camera and screen, with full image and video capture capability. Small enough to sit on a standard optical equipment table, it delivers the same high quality eye health examination as if the optometrist were with the patient. Easy for a local technician to operate, the results can be viewed by a remote optometrist in real-time or reviewed at a later point. The system can also be operated remotely by the optometrist. Fully encrypted for patient data security, it exports the images and video to a patient management system.
Theia’s remote-control panel allows a clinician to operate each element of the device independently. These include the movement of the device in three planes (X, Y and Z axes), via a remote joystick. This allows independent control of:
- Rotation of the light source
- Rotation of the camera
- Diffuse light intensity
- Slit height, slit width and brightness.
Available magnification of six, 10, 16 and 25 times allows viewing of most required structures. There is a Wratten filter, a blue light option and a red free filter, to aid fluorescein examination and the identification of blood vessels and retinal features using the Volk attachment. There are also pre-programmed operations, such as alignment with the right or left eye, full slit height or a 1mm2 parallelepiped at the touch of a button on the remote control. Table 1 outlines the various viewing techniques possible.
The image resolution is high enough to allow captured images to be digitally zoomed by using a viewing tool such as Windows photo viewer. Images, or indeed videos, can be exported onto any patient management platform. The files can then be viewed at a later time or shared as part of an enhanced and expedited referral/diagnostic process.
I very much look forward to trying this new system out soon and will happily let you know how I get on.
- Further information available at www.eyoto.com.
