Optical Coherence Tomography – what’s that?
Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have vision impairment or blindness. According to the 2019 WHO World Report on Vision, at least 1 billion people live with preventable vision impairment worldwide. Approximately 840,000 Australians live with vision impairment, with prevalence increasing despite 80% of cases being preventable or treatable. This number is growing due to increases in chronic metabolic diseases (e.g., diabetes), an ageing population, and insufficient access to care. Preventable vision impairment disproportionately affects people with poor access to care, low education level, and chronic disease. By reducing vision impairment, we can improve a person's quality of life, which also benefits the broader community, economy, and health system.
Lions Clubs in New South Wales and ACT have been working in partnership with the Sydney Eye Hospital and University of Sydney Save Sight Institute on eye care and health for over 50 years. Contributing to the ground-breaking research and working to establish the Eye Bank which stores donated corneas that can be grafted to persons in need to restore their sight. Professor Matthew Simunovic and the team at the Save Sight lnstitute aim to construct a state-of-the-art ophthalmoscope (a device to study the interior surface of the eye) using the same technology that allows us to get incredibly detailed pictures of the stars and galaxies with instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope. Called the adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AO-SLO), this device will prove to be a game-changer in ocular imaging. lt will permit the team to study the cellular structure of the eye in a living person. lt will also allow them to study the mechanisms of a healthy eye, how cellular structures influence perception and how ageing and disease affect this cellular structure.
The unparalleled imaging capabilities of AO would allow us to study the normal human eye and how it adapts to the external environment and fluctuations in the body (e.g. variations in blood pressure). Professor Simunov is requesting the Lions NSW-ACT Sight & Health Foundation to contribute towards the realisation of the project.
The AO-SLO will be developed in collaboration with the Dubra Lab at Stanford University. It will be the only one of its kind in Australia and incorporate advances not available on any AO-SLO device outside of Stanford University. This would place the Save Sight Sight lnstitute, and Australia at the forefront of imaging, standing alongside the world's leading institutions; UCL Moorfields Hospital, Stanford University and the lnstitute of Eye Health in Washington DC.
In a message to Lions Club members, Professor Simunov said: ‘We are grateful to the Lions NSW-ACT Save Sight Foundation for this opportunity to present to you the cutting-edge research being pioneered by clinicians and researchers at the University of Sydney’s Save sight lnstitute. Philanthropic support will accelerate this vital work and bring revolutionary new treatments to those that might otherwise lose their sight. We look forward to further discussions with you about how your philanthropic gift can support our work in this area’.
