Researcher proves eyes show early signs of heart disease
Media Release, Wednesday 7 December 2005
A scientist whose research could one day make a visit to the ophthalmologist or optometrist a routine part of screening for cardio-vascular disease is the winner of the University of Melbourne’s Woodward Medal for Science and Technology.
Associate Professor Tien Yin Wong is currently establishing a Retinal Vascular Imaging Centre at the University of Melbourne.
The centre, which is a collaboration between several teams, includes the University’s departments of Ophthalmology and Computer Science and Software Engineering.
The group is located at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and will work towards developing special retinal software that can analyse images of the eye and show predictors of cardiovascular disease including stroke, hypertension and heart failure.
“It is an ambitious goal but our ultimate aim is to develop a web-based imaging system from which optometrists and ophthalmologists can upload images which will then be assessed for retinal markers of future cardiovascular disease,’’ Associate Professor Wong says.
Development of this retinal imaging system follows on from Associate Professor Wong’s research which is the first in the world to categorically demonstrate that subtle damage to blood vessels in the retina can predict cardiovascular disease.
“The idea that the eye is a window to the human body and can predict other areas of human health has been around for more than a century,’’ he says.
“But our team has demonstrated this prediction in precise and quantitative terms, which is important if there is to be clinical application.’’
Using data collected from three large clinical trials involving about 20,000 people, Associate Professor Wong’s research demonstrated the link between different changes in retinal blood vessels and different types of cardiovascular disease.
His research showed that more severe changes in the retinal arteries predicted stroke, but that subtle degrees of narrowing of blood vessels predicted high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.
Associate Professor Wong has authored more than 80 articles on this subject in the past three years, published in prestigious journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association and the British Medical Journal.
Associate Professor Wong has received a $2 million Science, Technology and Innovation Grant from the Victorian State Government to further develop the retinal imaging technology.
He says when the research started in the mid 1990s he was working on film based cameras.
It has now moved to more sophisticated high resolution digital cameras and the ultimate aim is to develop a web-based program using pattern recognition technology which will further enable ophthalmologists to assess eye damage.
* The Retinal Vascular Imaging Centre (RetVIC) is a collaboration between: The University of Melbourne, Centre for Eye Research Australia, Baker Medical Research Institute, Diabetes Australia, The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, St Vincent’s Hospital, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Centre for Vision Research at the University of Sydney, International Diabetes Institute, Pfizer Australia, National Stroke Research Institute and Monash University. Additional support is provided by: National Heart Foundation of Australia, National Stroke Foundation, Save Sight Institute at the University of Sydney and BSC Electronics.
MEDIA CONTACT
Associate Professor Tien Yin Wong
03 9929 8429
twong@unimelb.edu.au
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
WHAT: Associate Professor Tien Yin Wong with retinal imaging equipment
WHERE: Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital,
corner of Gisborne St and Victoria Pde, East Melbourne,
1st Floor Reception
Enter via Peter Howson Wing Entrance on Gisborne St
WHEN: Wednesday, 7 December, 12noon
|
|
