Imaging SIG

SIG Corner Editor: João Barbosa Breda

Chair: Hans Lemij
Co-chair: David Garway-Heath

1. Goals and Activities of the SIG

The Imaging SIG’s main activity is to organize an annual meeting, the IMAGE meeting, which in 2019 will be held in April, in Barcelona. The name IMAGE stands for Imaging and Morphometry Association for Glaucoma in Europe. The name IMAGE stands for Imaging and Morphometry Association for Glaucoma in Europe. The aim of IMAGE is to be a forum in which European researchers dedicated to research in morphometric imaging in glaucoma can freely and openly discuss their work with peers. This model stimulates the highest possible level of constructive discussions and exchange of ideas. The aim is to keep IMAGE meetings small and allow plenty of time for discussion in a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. IMAGE will undoubtedly continue to spark off collaborative studies, as it has done in the past. The largest collaborative project was the European Optic Disc Assessment Trial (EODAT) which was published in 2010.

Clinical assessment of stereoscopic optic disc photographs for glaucoma: the European Optic Disc Assessment Trial.

Reus NJ, Lemij HG, Garway-Heath DF, Airaksinen PJ, Anton A, Bron AM, Faschinger C, Holló G, Iester M, Jonas JB, Mistlberger A, Topouzis F, Zeyen TG.
Ophthalmology. 2010 Apr;117(4):717-23. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2009.09.026

Additionally, the Imaging SIG has also published the Glaucoma Imaging book.



2. Provide a relevant breakthrough in the field

Imaging and quantifying ganglion cells and other transparent neurons in the living human retina.
Liu Z, Kurokawa K, Zhang F, Lee JJ, Miller DT.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Nov 28;114(48):12803-12808. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1711734114.

Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) damage and death results in the vision loss that is the main concern for patients with glaucoma. It would, therefore, be highly beneficial to be able to directly image RGCs to quantify the amount of RGC loss and also assess the potential effects of treatments on the cells. This is a challenge, because RGCs are almost completely transparent. Don Miller's team have modified adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy with 'off-axis' detector pinholes to capture multiply-scattered light. This has enabled the imaging of RGCs in vivo for the first time. This exciting development needs further work before it can be brought to routine practice, but offers new avenues to understand which RGCs are most susceptible to damage in glaucoma and how they respond to damage mechanisms and to treatment.

The search for EGS goal of “Paving the Way to Better Glaucoma Care” continues together with Outcome and other EGS Committees as well as SIGs, i.e. how to promote the best possible well-being and minimal glaucoma-induced visual disability in individuals with glaucoma within affordable healthcare systems.

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of the EGS.