Robotic Optical Coherence Tomography Retinal Imaging for Emergency Department Patients: A Pilot Study for Emergency Physicians’ Diagnostic Performance

January 22, 2023 | Ophthalmology | Duke University

Ailin Song, Alexander T. Limkakeng, Anthony N. Kuo, Eleonora M. Lad, Jay B. Lusk, Joseph A. Izatt, Kyung-Min Roh, Mark Draelos, Nita G. Valikodath, Pablo Ortiz, Rebecca G. Theophanous, Ryan P. McNabb

Study objective To evaluate the diagnostic performance of emergency physicians’ interpretation of robotically acquired retinal optical coherence tomography images for detecting posterior eye abnormalities in patients seen in the emergency department. Methods Adult patients presenting to Duke University Hospital emergency department from November 2020 through October 2021 with acute visual changes, headache, or focal neurologic deficit(s) who received an ophthalmology consultation were enrolled in this pilot study. Emergency physicians provided standard clinical care, including direct ophthalmoscopy, at their discretion. Retinal optical coherence tomography images of these patients were obtained with a robotic, semi-autonomous optical coherence tomography system. We compared the detection of abnormalities in optical coherence tomography images by emergency physicians with a reference standard, a combination of ophthalmology consultation diagnosis and retina specialist optical cohe...