Projecte realitzat en col.laboració amb CD6, IMO i Mutua de Terrassa

Everyday ophthalmologists visit several patients with cataracts, which must be analyzed and properly classified. Procedures commonly used nowadays for this purpose are the visual acuity assessment and the cataract gradation by means of direct observation of the crystalline lens through a slit lamp. These methods are subjective since the first requires the active participation of the patient and the gradation achieved by the second one totally depends on the physician and his o her expertise. In this study, a new objective approach to assess cataracts based on double-pass measurements is presented. The method uses a new parameter called Optical Scatter Index (OSI), extracted from the retinal image, which accounts for the intraocular scattering present in the eye. In this study we analyzed 59 patients: 20 of them without cataracts (control group) and 39 with cataracts of different degree and type. The values obtained with the new technique are compared with those achieved with the more conventional subjective procedures. The results of the study show that OSI is a powerful tool to evaluate cataracts with a good criterion.