Cylite’s next generation Hyperparallel optical coherence tomographer (HP-OCT), is making inroads around the world, gaining increased awareness by academic institutions with an interest in myopia management.
Image courtesy of Cobalt.
Scanning at a speed of over 300,000 A-scans per second, the award-winning HP-OCT uses thousands of parallel light waves to create an accurate and almost instantaneous 3D image of the eye without motion artefacts. From this 3D image, the user has access to highly accurate and repeatable corneal elevation and curvature maps, high definition tomographic images of both the anterior and posterior segment, and accurate analytics to assist clinicians measure and monitor conditions such as myopia, keratoconus, glaucoma, cataracts, corneal and retinal disease.
According to Cylite, the device which was recognised with an Engineering Australia National Pinnacles Award in 2020 and two Good Design Awards in 2021, streamlines a screening process that currently requires several individual diagnostic devices to build a clinical picture of the patient.
Prof James Wolffsohn, Head of the School of Optometry at Aston University in Birmingham, UK, who is awaiting delivery of a Cylite HP-OCT, is particularly interested in the role this new device will play in myopia management.
“We now know the choroidal thickness plays a key role in the emmetropisation process and myopic progression,” Prof Wolffsohn said. “Therefore, as well as providing high resolution measures of the axial length of the developing eye, the Cylite HP-OCT will allow better resolution of choroidal thickness changes which have been shown to aid prediction of the effectiveness of optical myopia management strategies.”
In Australia, the University of New South Wales School of Optometry and Vision Sciences acquired a HP-OCT due to its unique hyperparallel capture. Dr Maitreyee Roy, a senior lecturer and the Director of Optics and Radiometry Laboratory at the School said she is also looking to use the device in myopia studies. “To date, there has been a lack of single clinical instrumentation that can accurately and repeatedly assess all the biometric measurements in a single scan. Children are difficult to scan accurately,” said Dr Roy.
“By utilising a single instrument, interdevice variabilities would be eliminated and co-operation of the children to be imaged likely increased. Also, and importantly, with a deeper understanding of the biometric eye parameters and their relative dynamics, namely the axial length (AL), central corneal thickness (CCT), anterior and posterior corneal curvature (K), anterior chamber depth (ACD) and parameters of the crystalline lens, we theorise these single scan measurements could help us to understand the myopia development progress.
“Ideally, once these dynamics are better understood, we’ll gain an earlier ability to intervene in myopia management and thus prevent excessive progression; but these hypotheses all need longitudinal data to evaluate, and that’s what we hope to start in 2022,” Dr Roy said.
EXPANDING OPERATIONS IN 2022
Every HP-OCT is assembled by hand, calibrated, and thoroughly tested by a skilled team of Cylite engineers and manufacturing technicians. To meet the needs of its growing business, in 2022 the company will relocate, within the Monash Technology precinct, to a new facility enabling a four-fold increase in production capabilities. Locally designed and built bespoke robotics technology will be installed in the new facility to add to the growing production capabilities.
On the commercial side of the business, with COVID restrictions easing in 2022, Cylite is looking forward to finally being able to meet, in person, with the growing list of interested optometrists specialising in myopia management, scleral lens fitting and other specialities, who are keen to see what the HP-OCT can bring to their practice.
