PIONEERING Scots researchers have launched a pocket-sized device which could prevent millions of people in poor countries from losing their sight or hearing.
The breakthrough tool, known as the 'Arclight', is being trialled in parts of Africa and Asia to screen patients for the onset of blindness-causing eye disorders such as diabetes, cataracts and glaucoma, as well as retinoblastoma - a rare but potentially fatal type of eye cancer which mostly affects children under five, but which can be cured in 95 per cent of cases if identified early.
The device is also being used in Malawi to detect and treat ear conditions which can lead to deafness, and is already being sold to medical schools and GPs in the UK to help diagnose eye and ear diseases after preliminary studies showed that it was more effective that existing machines which cost hundreds of pounds more.
Profits from the sale of the device are being used to cross-subsidise its price in poor countries, where it can be marketed to hospitals and community-based medics for as little as £5-10 each.
The Arclight has been developed over the past 16 years by a team led by scientists from St Andrews University, in collaboration with experts from University College London and Leicester University.
Dr Andrew Blaikie, an NHS eye surgeon and academic in St Andrews University's School of Medicine who helped spearhead the project, said: "All diagnostic devices tend to be developed for rich economies because that's where the profits are. But this shows that if you design something frugal for low-income countries you might get lucky and create something cheap and effective which is actually still useful in a rich country. This is the classic example."
Thousands of units have now been distributed around the world to countries including Malawi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, Fiji, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands, through a collaboration with the Fred Hollows Foundation and the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness.
The Arclight incorporates an LED light with an ophthalmoscope, otoscope, and loupe into a single handheld package smaller than a mobile phone. Its unique size and design also mean it can be powered by a slim lithium battery charged by a tiny integrated solar panel, eliminating the need for electricity or plug-in points.
It is a far cry from existing ophthalmoscopes - the cumbersome devices commonly found in high street opticians which examine the interior of the human eye for disease using light beams to illuminate otherwise invisible tissues.
Although first invented in the 1850s, their design has barely changed in more than a century and the Arclight is the first device of its kind to combine an ophthalmoscope with with an otoscope - which checks the ear canal and drum for damage - and a loupe, a type of magnifying device.
Few practitioners in poor countries have access to these tools, however, even though they have the highest rates of vision and hearing loss - the majority of which could be prevented if caught in time.
The Arclight can fill that gap as a cheap and simple on-the-spot diagnostic tool.
Dr Blaikie added: “Arclight is the result of years of hard work by a small team of enthusiasts. These efforts have brought simple, frugal yet highly effective tools to health care workers who would otherwise be unable to make the early diagnoses needed to prevent needless blindness."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here