Patent Application
20230404390
The present disclosure relates to a myopia progression analysis device, a myopia progression analysis system, a myopia progression analysis method, and a myopia progression analysis program.
Myopia can cause blindness, and thus it is important to check the progression of myopia. Myopia is classified into axial myopia and refractive myopia. Measuring an eye axial length to check the current eye axial length allows checking of the progression of axial myopia, and treatment or correction is performed based on the progression.
An ophthalmologic information processing program disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been known as an example. It is disclosed in this example that whether the eyes of a subject have axial myopia is determined based on a measurement value of refractive power acquired by refractive power measurement by an analyzer, one or more measurement values of an intraocular distance acquired by an intraocular distance measurement section, information about the subject, and standard data.
However, an absolute value of the eye axial length alone is insufficient for the check of the progression of axial myopia. Physical characteristics vary among individuals, and human beings with large bodies tend to have large eyeballs. Thus, an individual cannot be determined to have axial myopia solely based on a high absolute value of the eye axial length. Thus, it is difficult to accurately check the progression of axial myopia based on the absolute value of the eye axial length alone.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a myopia progression analysis device, a myopia progression analysis system, a myopia progression analysis method, and a myopia progression analysis program that can exclude the influence of individual growth and allow accurate check of the progression of axial myopia.
To achieve the above-described object, the disclosed myopia progression analysis device includes: an eye axial length acquisition section that acquires an eye axial length of an eye of a subject; a reference value acquisition section that acquires a numerical value related to a physical characteristic of the subject other than the eye axial length as a reference value; a relative eye axial length calculator that calculates a relative eye axial length through relativization of the eye axial length acquired by the eye axial length acquisition section using the reference value acquired by the reference value acquisition section; a population information acquisition section that acquires population information which is a set of information about relative eye axial lengths of a plurality of comparison targets to be compared with the subject; and a relative position information calculator that compares the relative eye axial length of the subject calculated by the relative eye axial length calculator with the relative eye axial lengths of the plurality of comparison targets included in the population information to calculate relative position information indicating a relative position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in the set of comparison targets.
To achieve the above-described object, the disclosed myopia progression analysis system includes: a measurement section that measures an eye axial length of an eye of a subject; an eye axial length acquisition section that acquires the eye axial length measured by the measurement section; a reference value acquisition section that acquires a numerical value related to a physical characteristic of the subject other than the eye axial length as a reference value; a relative eye axial length calculator that calculates a relative eye axial length through relativization of the eye axial length acquired by the eye axial length acquisition section using the reference value acquired by the reference value acquisition section; a population information acquisition section that acquires population information which is a set of information about relative eye axial lengths of a plurality of comparison targets to be compared with the subject; and a relative position information calculator that compares the relative eye axial length of the subject calculated by the relative eye axial length calculator with the relative axial lengths of the plurality of comparison targets included in the population information to calculate relative position information indicating a relative position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in the set of comparison targets.
To achieve the above-described object, the disclosed myopia progression analysis method includes: acquiring, by an eye axial length acquisition section, an eye axial length of an eye of a subject; acquiring, by a reference value acquisition section, a numerical value related to a physical characteristic of the subject other than the eye axial length as a reference value; calculating, by a relative eye axial length calculator, a relative eye axial length through relativization of the eye axial length acquired by the eye axial length acquisition section using the reference value acquired by the reference value acquisition section; acquiring, by a population information acquisition section, population information which is a set of information about relative eye axial lengths of a plurality of comparison targets to be compared with the subject; and comparing, by a relative position information calculator, the relative eye axial length of the subject calculated by the relative eye axial length calculator with the relative eye axial lengths of the plurality of comparison targets included in the population information to calculate relative position information indicating a relative position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in the set of comparison targets.
To achieve the above-described object, the disclosed myopia progression analysis program causes a computer to execute: acquiring, by an eye axial length acquisition section, an eye axial length of an eye of a subject; acquiring, by a reference value acquisition section, a numerical value related to a physical characteristic of the subject other than the eye axial length as a reference value; calculating, by a relative eye axial length calculator, a relative eye axial length through relativization of the eye axial length acquired by the eye axial length acquisition section using the reference value acquired by the reference value acquisition section; acquiring, by a population information acquisition section, population information which is a set of information about relative eye axial lengths of a plurality of comparison targets to be compared with the subject; and comparing, by a relative position information calculator, the relative eye axial length of the subject calculated by the relative eye axial length calculator with the relative eye axial lengths of the plurality of comparison targets included in the population information to calculate relative position information indicating a relative position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in the set of comparison targets.
The present disclosure can exclude the influence of individual growth and allows accurate check of the progression of axial myopia.
Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In the myopia progression analysis system 1000 shown in
The myopia progression analysis system 1000 is mainly used by an ophthalmologist or any other specialist to analyze the progression of myopia of the subject and give appropriate treatments or correction depending on the progression. An operating company of the myopia progression analysis system 1000 provides, by using the system, services that support the treatments by the ophthalmologist. The operating company can provide the services to a plurality of ophthalmologists. The information management server 101 of the myopia progression analysis system 1000 is managed by the operating company and proposed for the ophthalmologists to use the terminal device 300 and the ophthalmologic apparatus 200. Note that the ophthalmologists may manage the system by themselves using the information management server 101. An apparatus for acquiring the eye axial length and the eye-related reference value used for relativization of the eye axial length, which will be described later, may have a measurement function similar to that of the ophthalmologic apparatus 200, and may be installed in places other than ophthalmologic hospitals, such as a glasses store.
The terminal device 300 is a device such as a personal computer (PC), a smartphone, a tablet PC, or a mobile phone. The terminal device 300 may access the information management server 101 via dedicated application software installed in the terminal device. In addition, the terminal device 300 may access the information management server 101 using an operating environment (e.g., an application programming interface (API), a cloud service, or a platform) provided by the information management server 101.
An input unit 320 is, for example, a device that is handled by a user to input and select information, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, or a touchpad. The input unit 320 may be a touch screen integrated with a display 310 of a smartphone, a tablet, or a liquid crystal display or organic EL display of a PC. The input unit 320 may be a voice input device.
The display 310 is a device that shows information to the user. The display 310 may be a device independent of the terminal device 300 or may be a device such as a liquid crystal display or organic EL display of a smartphone or a tablet.
The ophthalmologic apparatus 200 is mainly used to acquire the eye axial length of the subject and the reference value related to the physical characteristics of the subject, which will be described later. Although the ophthalmologic apparatus 200 is not always necessary as long as the eye axial length of the subject and the reference values related to the physical characteristics of the subject are externally acquired, the ophthalmologic apparatus 200 has the capability of measuring the eye axial length and other reference values, and thus is able to acquire the eye axial length and the physical characteristics of the subject, allowing quick analysis of the progression of myopia. The ophthalmologic apparatus 200 can also acquire the characteristics of the eyeballs of the subject simultaneously with the eye axial length, allowing smooth analysis of the progression of myopia.
The ophthalmologic apparatus 200 can measure a plurality of items such as the eye axial length, pupillary distance, corneal curvature, corneal diameter, and dioptric power of the subject's eye. These items are measured mainly by the functions of the ophthalmologic apparatus as a refractive power measurement device (reflectometer) and as an optical interference eye axial length measurement device using optical coherence tomography (OCT).
The intraocular distance calculator 212 analyzes the result of detection of interfering light by the OCT optical system 250 to specify peak positions of the detection result of the interfering light corresponding to a predetermined site in the eye, and thus can obtain the eye axial length of the subject's eye based on the distance between the specified peak positions.
The eye refractive power calculator 213 can obtain values such as the dioptric power by analyzing a ring-shaped image (a pattern image) obtained when an imaging element of the refractometry light-receiving system 242 receives reflection of a ring-shaped luminous flux (a ring-shaped measurement pattern) projected on the fundus of the eye by the refractometry projection system 241.
The eye refractive power calculator 213 can obtain the corneal curvature and the corneal diameter by analyzing a kerato-ring image acquired by the anterior segment observation system 270.
The pupillary distance can be obtained by adding a difference between the positions of the pupil centers of the right and left eyes on images captured by the anterior segment observation system 270 and the amount of movement that the moving mechanism 291 has made when the images are captured.
The information management server 101 includes an eye axial length acquisition section 111, a reference value acquisition section 112, a relative eye axial length calculator 113, a population information acquisition section 114, a relative position information calculator 115, and an information storage 121.
The information storage 121 stores an ID of the subject and items of information associated with the ID, such the eye axial length, information about timing of eye axial length measurement, the reference value, information about timing of reference value acquisition, a relative eye axial length, history of each item of information, and population information.
The ID of the subject may be information indicating the name of the subject, the number of a health insurance card, or the number of a patient ID card unique to a hospital. The eye axial length may be information indicating the eye axial lengths of the left and right eyes of the subject or a mean value thereof. The information about measurement timing may indicate a measurement date including year, month, and day of the measurement of the eye axial length of the subject and time when the measurement was made on the measurement date.
The reference value may be a numerical value related to the physical characteristics of the subject other than the eye axial length and associated with the subject's ID. Specifically, the physical characteristics related to the eyes of the subject may be information indicating a pupillary distance, a corneal curvature, a corneal diameter, a dioptric power, measurement values of these items for each of the left and right eyes, or mean values thereof. Note that the corneal diameter and the corneal curvature well represent the physical characteristics of the eyes of each individual, and thus are suitable examples of the reference value. The physical characteristics of body parts of the subject other than the eyes may be information indicating an eye socket size, height, and head size of the subject. The physical characteristics of the body parts other than the eyes are also suitable examples of the reference value for excluding the influence of individual growth. The size may include a length, an area, and a volume measured at any position of those body parts. The size may be of any other body part than the above-described body parts. The information about acquisition timing may indicate an acquisition date including year, month, and day when these reference values were acquired and time when the acquisition was made on the acquisition date.
The relative eye axial length will be described later.
The population information indicates data related to the eye axial lengths, reference values, and relative eye axial lengths of a plurality of comparison targets basically other than the subject, timing to measure these values, and timing to acquire these values. The population information is normative data for checking the position of the relative eye axial length of the subject who is a target of analysis of the progression of myopia in a standard population. The population information may exclude information that allows identification of the subject, such as the subject's name, from the viewpoint of personal information protection. Data of the comparison targets included in the population information is not easy to obtain, and thus the number of the data may be appropriately set to the number that is statistically reliable for comparison. All the data does not need to be raw data and may be representative values obtained by statistical processing on the data of the comparison targets.
The myopia progression analysis function of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the components.
The eye axial length acquisition section 111 has the function of acquiring the eye axial length of the subject through the measurement by the ophthalmologic apparatus 200, data input to the terminal device 300 via the input unit 320, and information collection via the network NW.
The reference value acquisition section 112 has the function of acquiring the reference value, which is a numerical value related to the physical characteristics of the subject other than the eye axial length, through the measurement by the ophthalmologic apparatus 200, data input to the terminal device 300 via the input unit 320, and information collection via the network NW. In particular, the reference value related to the subject's eye can be acquired from the measurement value of the ophthalmologic apparatus 200. Other physical characteristics related to the body parts of the subject other than the eyes can be acquired mainly by data input to the terminal device 300 via the input unit 320 and information collection via the network NW.
The relative eye axial length calculator 113 has the function of calculating a relative eye axial length through relativization of the eye axial length acquired by the eye axial length acquisition section 111 using the reference value acquired by the reference value acquisition section 112.
The relative eye axial length calculator 113 calculates a numerical value by, for example, dividing the eye axial length of the subject measured at predetermined measurement timing by the height of the subject, which is a reference value obtained at the same timing as the eye axial length measurement (eye axial length/height), or dividing the eye axial length by the corneal curvature obtained at the same timing as the axial length measurement (eye axial length/corneal curvature). In the calculation, the height or corneal curvature used as the denominator will never be zero. However, the reference value that takes a positive or negative value across zero such as the dioptric power is used as the numerator, and a numerical value obtained by dividing the dioptric power by the eye axial length (dioptric power/eye axial length) can be used as the relative eye axial length.
It is preferable that the timing of the eye axial length measurement and the timing of the reference value acquisition coincide with each other as much as possible, but they may be as close as possible. In particular, when one of eye-related physical characteristics other than the eye axial length is selected as the reference value and the ophthalmologic apparatus 200 acquires the physical characteristic simultaneously with the eye axial length, the timing of the eye axial length measurement coincides with the timing of the reference value acquisition, allowing calculation of a more reliable relative eye axial length.
If the relativization of the eye axial length is performed using both of a numerical value related to the physical characteristics of the subject's eye, such as the pupillary distance, corneal curvature, corneal diameter, or dioptric power of the subject, and a numerical value related to other physical characteristics such as the eye socket size, height, or head size of the subject, a relative eye axial length considering the physical characteristics more comprehensively can be calculated.
When the relative eye axial length is calculated through relativization of the eye axial length in this way, a normalized eye axial length taking the influence of the physical growth of the subject into account can be obtained. Specifically, a human being experiences great changes in body dimensions in infancy and a growth period, and it is not only the eye axial length that changes greatly, but also the pupillary distance, the corneal curvature, the corneal diameter, the dioptric power, the eye socket size, the height, and the head size. In such a situation, the eye axial length increases due to growth rather than abnormality. However, attention is required if the eye axial length significantly increases compared to the growth of the other body parts. When the relative eye axial length of the present disclosure is used as an index, the influence of the growth is canceled, allowing correct evaluation of the axial length. This leads to accurate prediction of axial myopia.
The population information acquisition section 114 has the function of acquiring population information which is a set of information about a plurality of relative eye axial lengths of comparison targets to be compared with the subject. As described above, the population information indicates data related to the eye axial lengths, reference values, and relative eye axial lengths of a plurality of targets basically other than the subject, timing to measure these values, and timing to acquire these values. The population information includes data necessary for calculating the relative eye axial length, for example, information about relative eye axial lengths for comparison calculated in advance.
The relative position information calculator 115 has the function of comparing the relative eye axial length of the subject calculated by the relative eye axial length calculator 113 with a plurality of relative eye axial lengths included in the population information to calculate relative position information indicating a relative position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in a set of subjects.
The screen of
In the middle graph, the horizontal axis indicates the relative eye axial length, i.e., the value of dioptric power/eye axial length (diopters/mm). For example, the relative eye axial length of this subject is −0.07 in this graph, which lies relatively between −σ and −2σ with respect to the mean value of the population for comparison. This position is easy to understand. Likewise, the bottom graph indicates the relative eye axial length, which is the value of mean keratometry/axial length (D/mm), i.e., the value of mean corneal curvature/eye axial length. For example, the relative eye axial length of this subject is 2.5 in this graph, which is close to the mean value of the population for comparison. This position is easy to understand.
As described above, the relative position information calculator 115 can calculate the relative position information indicating the position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in the population. The relative position information calculator 115 can calculate not only the relative position of one relative eye axial length, but also the relative positions of a plurality of relative eye axial lengths, allowing analysis of the progression of myopia in a more versatile manner.
The relative position information calculator 115 has the function of calculating, using the information about the measurement timing associated with the eye axial length which is a basis for the calculation of the relative eye axial length and the information about the acquisition timing associated with the reference value indicating the physical characteristics, the relative position information showing the relative eye axial length at timing when the timing of the eye axial length measurement corresponds to the timing of the acquirement of the reference value indicating the physical characteristics on a time-series basis and the relative eye axial lengths included in the population in chronological order.
The relative position information calculator 115 has the function of comparing each of the relative eye axial lengths measured at the different timings with a set of a plurality of relative eye axial lengths included in the population information by using two or more relative eye axial lengths of one subject measured at different timings, to calculate relative position information showing the relative position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in a set of subjects in chronological order.
The relative position information is not limited to the above-described example. For example, the relative position information may be relative position information in which the relative eye axial length obtained through relativization using the corneal diameter is plotted on the horizontal axis and the relative eye axial length obtained through relativization using the corneal curvature is plotted on the vertical axis for analysis in four quadrants, or may be relative position information indicating chronological changes of these values.
In Step S101, the eye axial length acquisition section 111 acquires the eye axial length of the subject's eye.
In Step S102, the reference value acquisition section 112 acquires a numerical value related to the physical characteristics of the subject other than the eye axial length as the reference value.
In Step S103, the relative eye axial length calculator 113 calculates the relative eye axial length through relativization of the eye axial length acquired by the eye axial length acquisition section 111 using the reference value acquired by the reference value acquisition section 112.
In Step S104, the population information acquisition section 114 acquires population information which is a set of information about the relative eye axial lengths of a plurality of comparison targets to be compared with the subject.
In Step S105, the relative position information calculator 115 compares the relative eye axial length of the subject calculated by the relative eye axial length calculator 113 with the plurality of relative eye axial lengths included in the population information to calculate relative position information indicating the relative position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in a set of subjects.
As described above, the myopia progression analysis device, myopia progression analysis system, myopia progression analysis method, and myopia progression analysis program of the embodiment of the present disclosure can exclude the influence of individual growth and allow accurate check of the progression of axial myopia by the functions of: the eye axial length acquisition section 111 that acquires the eye axial length of the eye of the subject; the reference value acquisition section 112 that acquires a numerical value related to a physical characteristic of the subject other than the eye axial length as a reference value; the relative eye axial length calculator 113 that calculates a relative eye axial length through relativization of the eye axial length acquired by the eye axial length acquisition section 111 using the reference value acquired by the reference value acquisition section 112; the population information acquisition section 114 that acquires population information which is a set of information about the relative eye axial lengths of comparison targets to be compared with the subject; and the relative position information calculator 115 that compares the relative eye axial length of the subject calculated by the eye axial length calculator with the relative eye axial lengths of the plurality of comparison targets included in the population information to calculate relative position information indicating the relative position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in a set of comparison targets.
The relative eye axial length is associated with information about the timing of eye axial length measurement which is a basis for the calculation and information about the timing of reference value acquisition. The eye axial length and the reference value include timing when the information about the timing of eye axial length measurement corresponds to the information about the timing of reference value acquisition on a time-series basis. The relative position information calculator 115 calculates relative position information showing the relative eye axial length of the subject at predetermined measurement timing and the relative eye axial lengths of the plurality of comparison targets at corresponding measurement timing included in the population information in chronological order. This can exclude the influence of individual growth and allows accurate check of the progression of myopia compared with a group.
Using two or more relative eye axial lengths of the subject measured at different timings, the relative position information calculator 115 compares each of the relative eye axial lengths measured at the different timings with the relative eye axial lengths of the plurality of comparison targets included in the population information to calculate relative position information showing the relative position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in the set of comparison targets in chronological order. Thus, the progression indicating whether the subject's condition is more aggravated or improved as compared with the group can be understood more easily.
The physical characteristic of the subject used as the reference value is a physical characteristic related to the eye of the subject other than the eye axial length, and appropriately represents the eye-related physical characteristic of the subject when the physical characteristic is any one of a pupillary distance, corneal curvature, corneal diameter, or dioptric power of the subject. Thus, the characteristics of the eyeballs of the subject are acquired simultaneously with the eye axial length, allowing smooth analysis of the progression of myopia.
The physical characteristic of the subject used as the reference value is a physical characteristic related to a body part of the subject other than the eyes, and appropriately represents the characteristics of individual growth when the physical characteristic is any one of an eye socket size, height, or head size of the subject. This can exclude the influence of the individual growth, allowing accurate calculation of the relative eye axial length.
When the reference value used for the relativization to obtain the relative eye axial length includes a physical characteristic related to the eye of the subject other than the eye axial length and a physical characteristic related to a body part of the subject other than the eye, the relative eye axial length considering the physical characteristics more comprehensively can be obtained.
Details of a program that implements the functions constituting the information management server 101 of the embodiments will be described below.
The information management server 101 is implemented on the computer 801. The operation of the components of the information management server 101 is stored in the auxiliary storage device 804 in the form of a program. The CPU 802 reads out the program from the auxiliary storage device 804 and loads the program into the main storage device 803 to perform the above-described processing according to the program. Further, the CPU 802 reserves a storage region corresponding to the above-described storage in the main storage device 803 according to the program.
Specifically, the program is a myopia progression analysis program for analyzing the progression of myopia on the computer 801. The program achieves the function of acquiring an eye axial length of an eye of a subject, acquiring a numerical value related to a physical characteristic of the subject other than the eye axial length as a reference value, calculating a relative eye axial length through relativization of the eye axial length acquired by the eye axial length acquisition section using the reference value acquired by the reference value acquisition section, acquiring population information which is a set of information about relative eye axial lengths of a plurality of comparison targets to be compared with the subject, and comparing the relative eye axial length of the subject calculated by the relative eye axial length calculator with the plurality of relative eye axial lengths included in the population information to calculate relative position information indicating a relative position of the relative eye axial length of the subject in a set of subjects.
It should be noted that the auxiliary storage device 804 is an example of a non-transitory tangible medium. Other examples of the non-transitory tangible medium include a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a semiconductor memory that are connected via the interface 805. When the program is distributed to the computer 801 via the network NW, the computer 801 that has received the distribution may load the program into the main storage device 803 to execute the processing.
The program may achieve some of the above-described functions. Further, the program may be a so-called differential file (differential program) that achieves the above-described functions in combination with another program already stored in the auxiliary storage device 804.
The embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, but the aspects of the present disclosure are not limited to the embodiments.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-172224 | Oct 2020 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2021/037549 | 10/11/2021 | WO |
