SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING ANALYSIS OF VISUAL FUNCTION USING A MOBILE DEVICE WITH DISPLAY

• US 20140285769A1
• Filed: 10/17/2012
• Published: 09/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford University)
• Original Assignee: DigiSight Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Palanker, Daniel, Blumenkranz, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,314,154 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 351/223
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/0025 characterised by electronic signal processing, e.g. eye models
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/0033 characterised by user input arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/0041 characterised by display arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/022 for testing contrast sensitivity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/024 for determining the visual field, e.g. perimeter types
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/032 Devices for presenting test symbols or characters, e.g. test chart projectors A61B3/036 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/06 for testing light sensitivity, e.g. adaptation; for testing colour vision
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/18 Arrangement of plural eye-testing or -examining apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

A visual function evaluation is performed using a sequence of interactions with a mobile device. A patient user may perform a variety of visual tests using the mobile device. The mobile device transmits the test results to a remote server implementing analysis of the visual function results using network service. The network service receives the test results, processes the results, and provides the processed results to a healthcare provider. The processed results may include trends of the user'"'"'s visual function test performance. The healthcare provider, such as a physician, may optimize and administer treatment based on the data. Early detection of changes in visual function can enable the healthcare provider to individualize treatment, helping to prevent vision loss while minimizing visits to the office, discomfort, and expense.

Claims

1. A method for performing a visual function evaluation of a patient with a retinal disease who is under recurrent treatment, the method comprising:

executing a patient administered visual function evaluation on a mobile device, wherein the evaluation includes one or more visual function tests pre-selected by a healthcare provider, wherein each test is comprised of a number of steps and the difficulty of a subsequent step is based on a patient'"'"'s response to a previous step within the test; and

indicating at least one response to a pre-selected visual function test using a touch screen on the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the test is pre-selected by the healthcare provider based on the retinal disease.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the test is pre-selected by the healthcare provider based on the recurrent treatment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the recurrent treatment comprises monitoring disease progression or administration of a pharmacological agent.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the healthcare provider is a doctor, nurse, medical professional, or medical technician.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the recurrent treatment includes an intraocular injection of a pharmacological agent.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more visual function tests are pre-selected by a healthcare provider based on analysis of the retinal imaging.

8. The method of claim 1, the recurrent treatment further comprising:

visiting a physician'"'"'s office and conducting testing under the guidance of a healthcare provider to determine the need for further treatment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the retinal disease is dry macular degeneration disease and the tests are pre-selected to determine progression to wet macular degeneration disease.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the recurrent treatment is administered by a physician.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a frequency for performing each of the tests in the visual function evaluation is selected by the healthcare provider.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the frequency is set by the health care provider based on the patient'"'"'s responses during a monitoring period or trends in the patient'"'"'s visual function.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating at least one response to the pre-selected visual function test with an audible response.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the visual function evaluation results from the mobile device to a remote server.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising analyzing the results of the visual function evaluation using the remote server to determine if a next treatment is to be scheduled.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the remote server implements an automated analysis of the results of the visual function evaluation to determine trends in the patient'"'"'s visual function based on the most recent results and previous data.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the analysis of the results of the visual function evaluations includes comparing the results to a baseline level of performance for the patient, determined from previous visual function evaluation results.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising sending an alert to the healthcare provider if the recent results of the visual function evaluation for the patient deviate from the baseline level of performance by more than a specified delta level, wherein the delta level is specified by a medical professional.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the analysis of the trends in the patient'"'"'s visual function compares the trends in the patient'"'"'s visual function to trends for other patients or groups of other patients.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing the visual function evaluation results and the results of the analysis to the patient'"'"'s healthcare provider in order to help determine whether there is a significant deterioration of the visual function that requires a treatment.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more visual function tests pre-selected by the healthcare provider are based on patient-specific, disease-specific, or treatment-specific criteria.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual function includes one or more functions from the list:

visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, low luminance vision, color vision, perimetry, and distortion in the visual field.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein a level of difficulty for the subsequent step is higher than a level of difficulty for the previous step when the patient enters a correct response in the previous step, wherein the level of difficulty for the subsequent step is lower than the level of difficulty in the previous step when the patient enters an incorrect response in the previous step.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the visual function test result is determined as the level of difficulty at which two correct responses were obtained, while two incorrect responses have been obtained at a level of difficulty above that.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the visual function test result is determined as the level of difficulty at which three correct responses were obtained, while three incorrect responses have been obtained at a level of difficulty above that.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein visual acuity is measured by sequentially displaying fonts of various sizes and offering a multiple choice of fonts for a matching selection.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein contrast sensitivity is measured by sequentially displaying fonts of various colors and offering a multiple choice of fonts for a matching selection.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the contrast sensitivity test begins with a pre-selected background color and a pre-selected font color, wherein the background color or font color changes to decrease a contrast between the background color and font color.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more tests are selected by the healthcare provider using a remote server, and transmitting the selection of the one or more tests to the patient'"'"'s mobile device.

30. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically re-testing the patient if the visual function test result is outside of a range of acceptable variation for the patient.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the retinal diseases include one or more conditions from the list:

macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, retinal vein occlusion, glaucoma, and chronic retinal detachment.

32. A method for performing analysis of a visual function of a user with a retinal disease who is receiving recurrent treatment from a healthcare provider, comprising:

receiving the user'"'"'s visual function test data from a remote mobile device application;

executing a test data analysis module stored in memory by a processor, the executed test data analysis module processing the visual function test data to generate a trend data of visual function and analyzing the trend data of visual function based on the retinal disease of the user to determine the user'"'"'s response to treatment, need for treatment, or need for evaluation by a healthcare provider; and

transmitting the visual function test data and the trend data to a remote computing device.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

receiving a message from a physician for the user; and

transmitting the message to the remote computing device.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

predicting a time for the next treatment for the user based on the trend data of visual function.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

transmitting the predicted time for the next treatment to the remote computing device.

36. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

analyzing the trend data of visual function and comparing the trend data to previous trend data for the user.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

transmitting an alert to the remote computing device if the trend data of visual function is outside of a range of acceptable variation in comparison to the previous trend data for the user.

38. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

comparing the trend data of visual function to trend data aggregated for patients with a similar retinal disease to the user.

39. The method of claim 32, further comprising making visual function test data and the trend data available to the healthcare provider.

40. The method of claim 32, further comprising sending an alert to the healthcare provider if the change in visual function data is above a level specified by the healthcare provider.

41. The method of claim 32, further comprising making visual function test data and the trend data available on a secure webpage.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the secure webpage is available to the patient and the healthcare provider.

43. A system for performing a visual function analysis, comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a test data analysis module stored in memory and executable by the processor to generate trend data from visual function test data received from a remote mobile device associated with a user having a retinal disease and receiving recurrent treatment from a healthcare provider;

an I/O interface module stored in memory and executable by the processor to send trend data and a physician message to the remote mobile device.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the visual function test data corresponds to tests that were pre-selected for the user by the user'"'"'s healthcare provider and performed by the user using the remote mobile device.