Because the eyes can potentially reveal signals about conditions like diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, sickle cell anemia and Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers believe they can use them as a so-called “window on health,” thereby giving healthcare providers a clear, non-invasive view into the human body.

Source: Chris Meyer/Indiana University

The team suggests that the ophthalmoscopes being developed for this application could potentially be used to identify early signs of various health conditions.

Specifically, the researchers have been working on an ophthalmoscope capable of observing the back of the human eye at a very high resolution — 2 microns. Such a view, the researchers report, would enable them to see the movement of red blood cells in real time. Further, using this technology has already enabled the research team to identify biomarkers for diabetes and hypertension in the blood vessels of the eye.

The researchers have also used the ophthalmoscope technology to observe various regions of the eye, including blood vessels and photoreceptors as well as allowing them to identify diseases like sickle cell anemia and to improve the observation of eye cells.

Going forward, the researchers are exploring a way to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into the technology to analyze the data collected from the ophthalmoscopes, potentially helping to process the images more efficiently and accurately, and thus potentially expediting diagnosis.

“There’s growing evidence of a strong retinal vascular component to Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers added. “You can currently see the signs with PET scans, which require large, multimillion-dollar instruments. If we can see the same signs with an eye scan, it’s a lot less invasive and a lot less costly.”