Eye and Brain (Apr 2021)
Portable Diagnostic System for Age-Related Macular Degeneration Screening Using Visual Evoked Potentials
Abstract
Craig Versek,1 S Mohammad Ali Banijamali,2 Peter Bex,3 Kameran Lashkari,4 Sagar Kamarthi,2 Srinivas Sridhar1,5,6 1NeuroFieldz Inc, Newton, MA, USA; 2Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA; 3Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA; 4Department of Bioengineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA, USA; 5Departments of Physics, Bioengineering, and Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA; 6Division of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USACorrespondence: Srinivas SridharDepartment of Physics, Northeastern University, 110 Forsyth St., 111 Dana Research Center, Boston, MA, 02115, USAEmail [email protected]: Delayed Dark-Adapted vision Recovery (DAR) is a biomarker for Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), however its measurement is burdensome for patients and examiners.Methods: In this study, we developed a portable, wireless and user-friendly system that employs a headset with a smartphone to deliver controlled photo-bleach and monocular pattern reversal stimuli, while using custom electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes and electronics in order to measure Dark-Adapted Visual Evoked Potentials (DAVEP) objectively and separately at the peripheral and central visual field. This is achieved in one comfortable 20-minute session, without requiring subject reporting. DAVEP responses post photo-bleach for up to 15 minutes were measured concurrently from both eyes in 12 AMD-patients, 1 degenerative myopia patient, and 8 controls who had no diagnosed macular vision loss.Results: Robust positive polarity DAVEP responses were observed at 200– 500 ms from stimulus onset to scotopic stimuli that have been seldom reported and analyzed previously. The amplitude recovery of the DAVEP response was significantly delayed in AMD patients as compared to controls. We developed DAVEP1 scores, a simple metric for DAR, which classified 90% of subject eyes correctly, indicating the presence of AMD in at least one eye of all pre-confirmed subjects with this diagnosis.Conclusion: We developed a user-friendly, portable VEP system and DAVEP1 metric, which show a high potential to identify DAR-deficits in AMD-patients. This novel technology could aid in early diagnosis of AMD.Keywords: age-related macular degeneration, EEG, visual evoked potential, dark adaptation recovery, scotopic vision, portable diagnostics
