Telemedicina para detección de enfermedades oculares con potencial de ceguera en México

Abstract

ObjectiveTo structure a Teleophtalmology program to access vulnerable population, for early detection for further treatment those pathologies with high risk to develope blindness in our country. Material and methodsA descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,942 subjects. Through guided examination performed by a certified photographer, under midriasis using Visucam Lite fundus cameras, were taken at least 4 photographs per eye of each patient: logsheet, lens, optic nerve and macula. Were included diabetic population, people>50 yrs and those with best corrected VA<20/40 in one or both eyes in three different locations. These photographs were reviewed by the authors who issued one or more diagnoses and also issued management suggestions. ResultsWere included 1,032 diabetic and 910 non diabetic persons. 454 (23.3%) were classified as high risk for developing blindness, 848 (43.6%) as having a condition that required to be assessed but was not considerated as urgent and in 640 (32.9%) it was not possible to detect any ocular disease. 369 (81%) of those cases that we considered required immediate treatment were diabetic persons. Ocular conditions that more frequently were causes of call for urgent for treatment were: proliferative diabetic retinopathy with high-risk characteristics (26%), clinically significant macular edema (26%), diabetic tractional retinal detachment (11%), and advanced cataract (10%). ConclusionThe most vulnerable group of the program was diabetic population. In only 20% of them was not possible to detect any ocular pathology, on the other hand, 81% of cases marked as urgent were diabetic.