A baby’s retina being checked at LVPEI, Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 2: There’s good news for parents of newborns. LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) introduced a high-tech equipment here today to detect retinal problems in premature babies.

Called RetCam, the machine can capture images of the retina in babies. Then the images enable paediatric ophthalmologists detect possible damages in the retina in case of low birth weight (LBW) babies. Also, the images can throw light on diseases like eye tumour or retino-blastoma causing eye cancer.

“Though the machine costs Rs 60 lakh, people who come to the hospital to get the retina of their babies checked through RetCam would not be charged,” said Dr Tapas Ranjan Padhi, consultant, retina vitreous services at LVPEI, Bhubaneswar.

“There are roughly 45 million blind people in the world and childhood blindness contributes to a significant extent (1.6 million), but about 80 per cent of these cases are treatable or preventable. Retinopathy of prematurity (RoP), in case of LBW babies, occurs due to several reasons like prolonged oxygen therapy, septicaemia or infection of blood, multiple blood transfusion and prolonged respiratory distress,” said Padhi, adding: “A baby born 35-36 weeks into the gestational period or with weight less than 1.7 kg might have an immature retina.”

“In case of further development of organs after a baby is born, the premature blood vessels inside the eye may develop in a wrong manner, causing rupture, which might block the passage of light inside the retina. The condition is also called retinopathy,” the expert added.

The director, Vision Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, Dr Lingam Gopal, who was also present on the occasion, said: “Apart from detecting RoP, the equipment can also detect cancer in the eyes of babies. But the most important thing is that as it is capable of taking the photograph of the entire retina, which can play a major role in the process of treatment. The paediatric ophthalmologist can compare the images of the retina taken before, after and during the entire treatment process of the eye tumour.”

The director, LVPEI, Bhubaneswar, Dr Taraprasad Das said: “Equipment is the first of its kind in Orissa and among six in the entire country. It has tremendous potential to save a child’s eyes. So an eye examination within 30 days of birth in case of premature babies can ensure proper vision treatment in future.”

On how RetCam operates, Dr Padhi said: “It is easy to take the picture of a retina of an adult as he/she can sit in a position and the equipment clicks the photograph, but it is not possible since babies cannot sit. So in RetCam, a probe actually touches the eyes of the baby and takes the image that is displayed on a computer screen. It can be stored, enlarged and even sent to other doctors for consultation, if needed.”

“One can even take the machine to a distant village. After taking photographs, the person concerned can send the images to the experts in Bhubaneswar to perform the tele-screening process,” he said.