CANTERBURY, UK - People often say the eyes are the window to the soul, which may very well be true, but artificial intelligence (AI) has a different mission for our eyes. Brilliant minds and advanced AI have united to use the eyes to perform early screening for diseases. 

Researchers from different corners of the world have been looking into developing AI screening tools to allow ophthalmologists, general practitioners, and endocrinologists to detect symptoms of various diseases via the eyes. 

Eye screening AI systems go beyond simply detecting eye diseases, and instead deliver data that can translate into signs of various other health conditions such as:

- Diabetes

- High blood pressure

- Thyroid disease

- High cholesterol

- Rheumatoid arthritis

- Brain cancer

- Mild cognitive impairment

- Alzheimer’s disease

The Research:

Researchers at the Centre for Eye Research Australia led by Prof Mingguang He, principal investigator in Ophthalmic Epidemiology, assert that eye screening may help patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy (DR) learn of their condition sooner, enabling intervention before the disease becomes untreatable.

Of patients with diabetes, 30 percent end up suffering from DR, a disease that damages the small blood vessels in the retina and can eventually lead to blindness if untreated. 

Eye screening based on AI can facilitate the early diagnosis and treatment of this condition and prevent almost all vision loss caused by DR. This would be a huge development, because nearly 50 percent of those with the disease do not know of it until it is too late for any