Invention from Białystok enables diagnosis based on iris

Eyescan is a response to the lack of a diagnostic tool that would allow primary care physicians to determine, already in the early stages of the disease, to which specialist they should refer individual patients - told PAP that one of the authors of the project Marcin Joka.

The inventors - students of Bialystok University of Technology and the Medical University of Bialystok - were looking for such a solution for diagnosis, which would not interfere with the human body.

"We were looking for answers to the question of which human tissue, in addition to blood, would allow to find links between diseases and organs - and we found the iris" - said the co-author of the invention. Researchers referred to iridology, the science dealing with the study of the iris and fundus, the aim of which is to assess the current state of health.

The first step to building the invention was analysing the iris and creating a prototype application that analyses the image of the iris and shows changes such as discoloration or structural changes. The result - as Joka said - is a comparison of this analysis with iridology maps showing which organs and systems are linked to specific locations on the surface of the iris. "The results of this analysis allow to assess whether there is something wrong with the body at an early stage of disease" - he added.

Eyescan will consist of a special device that will scan the eye. Then the data will be analysed and sent to the virtual cloud, and physicians will be able to receive them and read the initial diagnosis using the application. This diagnosis will include the lists of changes that have taken place in the body and potential diseases.

At this stage of the invention development, the inventors have prototype software for analysing the image of the iris. The next step - according to Joka - will be designing the eye scanning device that will work at the appropriate lighting conditions, but - as he said - funds are needed for that.

In the author\'s opinion, the proposed solution is innovative, because - as he noted - "so far it was quite difficult technically to analyse certain links between the iris and the rest of the body based on images of the eye". In his opinion, this is a fast and cheap method of initial diagnosis.

Joka said that the inventors consulted their idea with doctors. Some of them - he added - are interested in such a solution. He said that in Poland, doctors’ opinions about the effectiveness of iridology are divided, but for example in the United States and Germany this method begins to be introduced into normal practice.

The project Eyescan was awarded in this year\'s "Technotalent", a competition of innovative solutions of young people from the region of Podlasie. (PAP)

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