SPOTLIGHT ON TECHNOLOGY & TECHNIQUE

A wider spectrum of vision care

Canon’s ImageSPECTRUM software is designed to ensure eye measurements are exact, down to the micron.

By Robert Stoneback, Associate Editor

The human eye has its limits, even those belonging to a trained ophthalmologist.

That’s where software like Canon’s ImageSPECTRUM comes into play. It provides greater detail of the retina because it allows for accurate measurements, eliminating the need for relative image comparisons.

BETTER TOOLS, BETTER MEASUREMENTS

ImageSPECTRUM is used in conjunction with Canon’s retinal cameras, and both are commonly used to document optic nerve cupping, says Dr. Andrew Boush, of Watertown, Wisconsin’s, Center for Eye Care. In a perfect world, the cup would always be clearly distinguishable from the rest of the nerve, but that’s not always the case, he says. In some cases, the nerve slopes shown by the cupping are so gradual as to be almost indistinguishable, because of the limits of human observation.

Using ImageSPECTRUM, though, ophthalmologists can use software tools to examine the eye and accurately take measurements within microns.

“Instead of saying, well it’s this relative size and shape compared to another image, you can come up with a quantifiable size” using the software, says Dr. Boush.

This allows ophthalmologists to better catalog changes in the eye, which can represent conditions such as glaucoma.

REMOTE ACCESS & QUICK COMPARISONS

The workflow for the software will vary for each office, Canon says, but many steps are similar between practices. The patient will start with a study performed by the photographer, who will then walk the patient to an exam room to meet with a doctor.

The doctor will review the images taken by the photographer, make a diagnosis and treat the patient.

The ImageSPECTRUM’S multimedia modality display uses one screen to show all the retinal exam procedures performed on a patient. It allows all the results to be compared in one place.

To help with treatment, the doctor can use ImageSPECTRUM to separate colors in the images, allowing him or her to better examine the different retina layers. The doctor can then record his or her findings.

Doctors at Center for Eye Care have the software on their laptop, which they carry with them from room to room.

When the program is loaded, the user can sort through a list of saved patients by diagnosis, alphabetical order or by date of service, according to Jennifer Boush, a certified ophthalmic technician at the Center for Eye Care and wife of Dr. Boush.

One feature especially helpful to the Center’s staff is “Mosaic.” This allows the software to automatically “knit” together five pictures taken of different parts of an eye, to make a composite image of the whole retina. There is also a “small pupil” setting to allow photography of eyes that do not dilate more than 3 millimeters, says Ms. Boush.

Doctors can remotely access any images stored in the clinic’s camera, a Canon CR2 Plus AF. Sets of photos can be directly compared, making it easy for physicians to see the differences between a patient’s most recent visit and a previous one, according to Dr. Boush.

EASIER THAN THE OLD DAYS

Showing patients an ImageSPECTRUM picture is easier and quicker than with earlier methods of photography, Dr. Boush says. An ophthalmologist for more than 20 years, he recalls when retinal pictures were taken with film and recorded by hand.

Says Dr. Bousch: “Not only was that an incredible amount of work, [but] patients never got to see their image at the time it was taken,” nor, often enough, for sometime. OM