iCATARACT Cataract analysis through smartphone assisted device

Abstract

Vision loss prevents millions of people worldwide from living an independent life. Cataract is one of the leading causes of avoidable blindness and responsible for 51% of world blindness, which represents about 20 million people [1]. In Pakistan 50 percent of people over the age of 40 years are suffering from cataract disease or cataract changes [3]. Although, cataract treatment has matured over the years, however, the main issue remains the late diagnosis that results in complications such as glaucoma, which is not treatable. The population living in the rural and far-flung areas, which lack the basic health facilities, are especially at risk for delayed cataract diagnosis. To fill this void, the proposed product ‘iCataract’ provides a low-cost, self-operative and simple cataract detection and diagnosis system. It comprises of two components: a portable device to accurately capture the image of the eye and an application to analyze the image for the detection and quantification of the disease. In comparison to the conventional slit lamp method, that requires an ophthalmologist and costs more than $5000, iCataract is a disruptive method for cataract diagnosis [7]. Associated with the smart phone application, a web portal maintains and tracks the history of each user and also links patients with doctors for detailed feedback.