Internet Program Launched To Prevent Blindness In Diabetic Patients �� :

Angsuman Chakraborty ��

July 18th, 2005 �� 18th � 2005

A Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center team is launching a high-tech study to determine if early screening using a special camera and images transmitted over the Internet can prevent blindness in Medicaid patients with diabetes. �� .

"Medicaid patients are rarely screened and are at risk of becoming blind," said Ramon Velez, MD, M. Sc., the principal investigator. "�� " � �� . � �� . Diabetes is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the United States and Velez said the study will determine if early referral to ophthalmologists will help. �� .

The project — "I See in NC" — is being pilot-tested at Downtown Health Plaza of Baptist Hospital, where Velez is medical director, and then will be offered to two rural networks of Community Care of North Carolina. �� -- "�� " -- �� . One is Central Piedmont Access II, the other is Access III of the Lower Cape Fear. �� . About 2,000 Medicaid adults with diabetes will be asked to participate. �� 2000 �� .

"The recent development of digital retinal photography has spurred a movement to employ this new technology with images transmitted by the Internet to central reading centers," Velez said. "�� " �� .

He said that in the pilot testing stage, the team is using a Canon retinal camera, acquired through a grant from the North Carolina Lions Foundation. �� . A diabetic retinopathy reading center is being established at the School of Medicine in cooperation with the Department of Ophthalmology. � retinopathy �� . William P. Moran, MD, formerly head of the Section on General Internal Medicine, is co-investigator. � �� .

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