Telemetric Microsensor for Glaucoma

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Glaucoma is an optic nerve disease in which there is progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells leading to irreversible loss of vision It is estimated o affect of the general population More than million Americans are affected with glaucoma and it is estimated to account for nearly $ B in direct medical costs It is estimated that of Caucasian patients and of African American patients will experience blindness due to glaucoma It is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide High intraocular pressure IOP is the single largest as well as the only modifiable risk factor associated with glaucoma Measuring and reducing IOP to levels that reduce the progression of visual field loss and nerve degradation is the current management approach for glaucoma Typical treatment consists of IOP measurement in a clinical setting with a drug therapy of self administered eye drops such as timolol and latanoprost During periodic follow ups IOP and eye health is assessed and medication is adjusted as necessary until further progression is stopped or reduced Reproducible and accurate IOP measurements are a critically important element of disease management Goldman Applanation Tonometry GAT is the standard for measuring IOP The most significant limitations of GAT are that it provides an indirect IOP measurement and only measures IOP at a single moment in time However even with these limitations GAT has remained the gold standard for measuring IOP in the management of glaucoma To overcome this we propose the use of a micro miniature telemetric pressure sensor device for measuring IOP continuously and directly As such for the Phase I project we propose the following Specific Aims Demonstrate a low profile micro pressure sensor with mmHg accuracy and Establish microcoil designs on flexible substrates for wireless telemetric communication PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE More than million Americans and million people worldwide have glaucoma Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world and accounts for nearly $ B in direct medical costs per year in the U S The ultimate goal of the proposed SBIR project is to apply novel technologies to develop a miniature device for glaucoma treatment