The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Screen them young and let them see

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Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Screen them young and let them see

Staff Reporter

Blindness among newborns can be spotted with new telemedicine software

Babies weighing less than 2 kg should be screened within first three weeks of birth
The software will be useful in rural areas where expertise is lacking

Bangalore: Did you know that most premature babies are at risk of developing retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a leading cause of preventable infant blindness worldwide?

Although this condition can be prevented if diagnosed and treated early, there is a severe paucity of ROP-trained ophthalmologists in the country.

A team of doctors from Narayana Nethralaya, led by paediatric retinal surgeon Anand Vinekar, who conducted a pilot project titled Karnataka State Internet Assisted Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity (KIDROP) in six backward districts of north Karnataka (Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Koppal, Bijapur and Bagalkot), has now collaborated with i2i TeleSolutions to develop telemedicine software to screen and diagnose ROP in babies whose birth weight is less than 2,000 grams (2 kg).

The software, which can be accessed on Apple’s iPhone, was launched earlier in the week.

On the occasion, Chairman and Managing Director of Narayana Nethralaya K. Bhujang Shetty said the hospital had screened 1,600 infants in these districts and treated 160 of them.

“We are coordinating with the Central Government and are taking up this programme under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), where we will provide free laser treatment to the affected infants for the first year,” Dr. Shetty said.

Training

Narayana Nethralaya will train Government ophthalmologists and ophthalmic assistants to screen all babies whose birth weight is less than 2 kg.

“After screening, these technicians (who will be provided with portable digital cameras) will send the images of the retina through an iPhone to experts at the base hospital in Bangalore. They will diagnose and take up follow-up treatment immediately. Babies should be screened within the first three weeks of birth failing which treatment will be difficult,” he said.

Team work

During the pilot project, a dedicated team of doctors travelled each day to peripheral (rural and semi-urban areas) neonatal care centres with screening equipment, Dr. Shetty said.

At risk

Dr. Vinekar, who is also the project coordinator, said: “In India, more than 8 per cent of 27 million births each year are at the risk of this potentially blinding condition. Roughly if 100 ‘at-risk’ infants are screened, 15 to 20 per cent may require treatment that can prevent blindness. This requires a fast and efficient system of screening infants especially in the peripheral rural areas where expertise is lacking.” “We used the ‘store and forward’ technology during our pilot project in the six districts. But that was slow and did not solve security and storage issues. So we collaborated with i2i TeleSolutions to get a telemedicine software developed that can be accessed on iPhone,” he said.

Links

Sham Banerji, Chief Executive Officer of i2i TeleSolutions said his team was glad that their software connected ROP specialists to premature infants in the farthest corners of India.

“We expect TeleROP to be deployed on a much broader scale across the country and soon in other countries linking them in this unique way,” he added. Paediatric retinal surgeon Anna Ells from Canada spoke.

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