Continuous monitoring of intraocular pressure would be a significant advance in management of glaucomateous patients. Continuous monitoring would allow the clinician to detect and quantify diurnal fluctuations in patients with progressive visual field loss. By optimizing control of lOP, retinal ganglion cell death will be mitigated, subsequent visual field deterioration will be less likely, and patients will have enhanced visual function and suffer less disability. Creare proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of a continuous intraocular pressure sensor in glaucoma patients who require cataract extraction. The innovation proposed is a pressure sensor that consists of a sensitive displacement transducer contained within a hermetic, biocompatible structure that can be implanted in the eye of a patient who requires a lens implant. The passive, resonant, implanted transducer absorbs RF energy from a detector coil outside of the patient at a frequency that is dependent on the intraocular pressure. Continuous measurements are collected and stored for later analysis by an attending physician. The Creare team has expertise in all of the areas required for the successful development of the intraocular pressure sensor, including the design and fabrication of microdevices, biomedical engineering, and clinical aspects of glaucoma care.
