Wireless Intraocular Pressure Sensor to Monitor Glaucoma Patients

Executive Summary

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness that affects up to 3 million people in American.  It can remain undetected until permanent vision loss is present. Measuring eye pressure during an office visit is a standard diagnostic tool.  However, this measurement can only report on pressure during a brief time sample.  Patients with variable eye pressure can still be at risk independent of the office visit pressure. A more accurate method would involve measuring pressure over an extended period of time.

Description of Technology

MSU has developed a novel contact lens type sensor which can detect intraocular eye pressure (IOP) accurately and in real-time. This technology does not require battery power and can measure IOP for glaucoma patients over extended time periods.  It can send notifications to the patient and/or doctor when IOP is above acceptable levels. This non-surgical method is easily attached to and removed from the eye and does not have the cost, signal drift, or infection concerns that previous surgical methods have. This technology can have significant medical applications for glaucoma patients and could be widely used in research to help better understand the underlying mechanisms controlling IOP and the progression of glaucoma.

Key Benefits

• Simple-Design is simple. Easy to fabricate using 3D printing
• Accurate-Data collected shows accurate reading of IOP
• Adaptable-Technology can be easily adapted to other eye shapes

Applications

• IOP monitoring for glaucoma or at risk patients: Designed to monitor IOP for patients with glaucoma or people at risk for developing glaucoma
• Research tool-Can be adapted to laboratory settings and animals to understand progression of glaucoma

Patent Status: 

Patent pending

Licensing Rights Available

Full licensing rights available

Inventors: Arthur Weber, Wen Li, Mohammad Hossein Mazaheri Kouhahi

Tech ID: TEC2017-0029