Eye conditions like glaucoma and macular degeneration are best treated when spotted early, but often they go undiagnosed until symptoms appear because the instruments used to detect them are in an ophthalmologist’s office, not your primary care physician’s. A team at MIT has developed a hand-held device that can quickly, and with a single scan, help detect a variety of retinal conditions.

The device performs high-speed optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging using an infrared light source and tiny 2D mirror, creating a high-resolution 3D image of the retina. The system also automatically corrects for eye movement, effectively freezing the eye during the scan for a focused, streak-free result. Thought the essential technology inside the scanner has existed for years, and table-top systems have allowed diagnosis of retinal diseases by specialists, the new scanner may allow for population-wide screening of eye diseases.

Sources:

1. Medgadget:
   New High Speed Scanner.