Fast-tracking innovative research projects for patients. Advancing Eye Care: From Bench to Bedside

Achieving better healthcare begins with discovering new solutions in the lab. To accelerate the translation and deployment of research projects, SingHealth and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have joined forces through the Healthcare Translation Partnership (HTP).

The HTP will provide $8 million in funding for Medical Technology, Data Science & AI/Digital Health and Health Services Innovation projects. There are currently two ophthalmology projects under trial receiving support from HTP, which will help to speed up the process of bringing them to market.

The Terahertz High Definition Eye Analysis (THEA) is a clinical tool that utilises Terahertz imaging techniques — usually used in industrial or surveillance settings — to provide a more efficient way of assessing the severity and progression of Ocular Surface Diseases (OSD).

This project is run by a clinical and research team from SNEC, SERI and A*STAR. Research team lead, Associate Professor Liu YuChi, SNEC’s Clinician Scientist, expects THEA to be commercially available in five years.

Another initiative is the establishment of the SERI-IHPC Joint Lab framework, which helped to birth the Intelligent Eye Triage system — an AI-powered tool to better triage eye patients in primary care/polyclinics. The project is led by SNEC’s Associate Professor Daniel Ting, with the help of experts from SERI and A*STAR’s Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC).

SingHealth PolyclinicsOutram has been piloting the Intelligent Eye Triage system since January 2022. The system uses machine learning to accurately assess and diagnose patients with eye symptoms. It can indicate the urgency level for a patient to be referred to a specialist.

Results thus far have proven encouraging. The accuracy of referrals to eye specialists has increased from 42% to 60%, meaning fewer unnecessary visits and improved clinical outcomes.