New Delhi, July 15: An instrument developed by US-based researchers to take special snapshots of the eyes could soon provide an early warning system for diabetes long before its symptoms become evident.

The snapshots — used to study retinal tissues — provide an advantage over standard blood tests and could help detect undiagnosed diabetes, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center.

“So much damage occurs before the disease can be detected by a doctor,” said Victor Elner, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Michigan.

“Early diagnosis will allow us to reduce organ damage and prevent the complications of the disease.”

Elner and his colleagues have shown that metabolic stress and tissue damage is associated with unusually high levels of a class of emissions by the retina called flavoprotein autofluorescence (FA).

In a new study, the doctors found that FA levels were significantly higher among patients with diabetes, regardless of the severity of the disease, compared with levels in patients without diabetes, the University of Michigan said.

“Increased FA activity is the earliest indicator (that) cell death has occurred and tissue is beginning to break down,” said Howard Petty, a biophysicist and team member who is conducting research on inflammatory processes in the eyes.

The researchers have described the potential of tracking FA levels to detect diabetes in the latest issue of the Journal of Ophthalmology.

Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to several complications including retinal damage that can over time lead to blindness.

The new technique devised by the Michigan scientists involves taking a special photograph of the eyes to study FA activity.

The researchers examined the eyes of 21 patients with diabetes and found the FA elevated in all of them. But the patients with diabetic retinopathy in at least one eye had significantly greater FA activity than people without visible eye disease.

The researchers believe such differences in FA activity might make it possible to track the severity of diabetes. Elner and Petty have filed for a patent and set up a company to commercialise the eye-scanning instrument, the university said.