Heidelberg Engineering will partner with RetInSight to deploy the RetInSight GA Monitor – the first AI-based medical software solution for automated image analysis for routine clinical use in patients with geographic atrophy (GA).
Heidelberg AppWay, the company’s secure platform for ophthalmic apps, will offer access to RetInSight’s AI-based algorithm.
Developed by RetInSight, an Austrian company, the RetinSight GA is approved as a Class II medical device according to the EU Medical Device Regulation 2017/745 (MDR). For the first time, not only the end-stage lesions with complete loss of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), but also the primary and disease-triggering degeneration of the photoreceptors (PR) can be visualised and quantified quickly, precisely, and objectively.
The RetInSight GA Monitor supports comprehensive management of GA based on optical coherence tomography (OCT); a high[1]resolution imaging technique widely used in clinical practice. The unique feature of the RetInSight GA Monitor is its capability for visualising and measuring the condition of photoreceptors, which are fundamental to human vision. In GA, the progressive and irreversible deterioration of vision is initiated by photoreceptor thinning and loss, which is very difficult for ophthalmologists to detect on OCT images. With the help of specially trained AI-supported algorithms, the degree and extent of the thinning of the photoreceptors as well as the loss of the retinal pigment epithelium are identified by the software. The RetInSight GA Monitor therefore helps physicians identify patients in need of treatment on their first visit and track their disease progression by accurately measuring PR degeneration and RPE loss.
“With the launch of our GA Monitor, we are supporting ophthalmologists in clinical decisions by offering reliable software based on medical findings,” says Corinna zur Bonsen-Thomas, CEO of RetInSight GmbH. “The unique AI-based visualisation of the photoreceptor layer sets us apart from other solutions and has the potential to fundamentally change the way ophthalmologists diagnose and treat GA patients. We are proud to be able to help preserve the vision and quality of life of millions of patients.”
With Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration approval of new treatments on the horizon for GA, fast, accurate and resource-efficient evaluation of OCT images through automated AI algorithms will support ophthalmologists in timely diagnosis, accurate monitoring of the disease stage, and personalised treatment.
