“Its potential utility may lie in enabling frequent, noninvasive longitudinal monitoring or early identification of patients requiring further investigation,” said Dr. Christine Kiire, a consultant ophthalmologist at Oxford Eye Hospital and a visiting researcher in the artificial medical intelligence lab at the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology. If validated and made affordable, the system could make blood monitoring more accessible in resource-limited environments, Kiire, who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email.
The method could be useful in settings where it’s burdensome to draw and analyze blood repeatedly, said Dr. Theodore Leng, an ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon at Stanford University who wasn’t involved in the study. This could include outpatient screening, home monitoring, follow-up appointments for dialysis and cancer treatments, or pediatrics, he said in an email.
That said, the system is not ready for prime time yet. “It’s great research but will take a lot of steps to be clinically available,” Dr. Peter Campbell, an ophthalmologist at Oregon Health & Science University who wasn’t involved in the study, said in an email.