RNS: FA imaging, July 14, 2008
TIME: 2:03
URL: http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID=459
U-M Health Minute: Today’s top health issues and medical research
U-M study: Keeping an eye on diabetes with FA imaging
“Snapshot” of the eye may give early warning of diabetes and related eye disease
Suggested lead: Researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center have released a study that examines a new diagnostic tool that may help diagnose diabetes-related eye problems long before symptoms begin. Here’s Andi McDonnell with more.
A new vision screening device invented by two scientists at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center could give doctors and patients a head start on treating diabetes and its vision complications.
The new device – called Favoprotein Fluorescence Imaging – offers significant advantages over glucose testing, the “gold standard” for diabetes detection. It takes a specialized photograph of the eye and is non-invasive, taking about five minutes to test both eyes.
Lead study author Dr. Victor M. Elner (M.D., Ph.D.), an ophthalmologist at Kellogg Eye Center, explains …
“The purpose of FA imaging is really to address a large public health concern. Diabetes is growing in prevalence of our society and it is necessary to treat the disorder as soon as possible to prevent complications. This will reduce not only the costs but the real human suffering caused by the disease.”
Metabolic stress - and disease - can be detected by measuring the intensity of cellular fluorescence in retinal tissue. In a previous study, Petty and Elner reported that high levels of FA act as a reliable indicator of eye disease.
In their new study, the researchers measured FA levels of 21 individuals with diabetes and compared the results to age-matched “healthy” controls.
According to Elner, the new study reveals …
“The diabetics demonstrated consistently abnormal metabolism when compared to the control individuals without disease.”
“We found FA imaging for diabetes to be reliable in patients who are younger or older and regardless of the duration of their disease.”
And Elner says that given the increasing prevalence of diabetes, the screening device could help address a leading and growing public health concern.
He tells us…
“This pilot study raises the promise that this technology may be used in a reliable manner to detect patients with diabetes because almost all of them have metabolic dysfunction in their retina that can be detected by FA imaging.”
Results from this new study can be found in the July issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.
Andi McDonnell, U-M Health System News.
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