Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital has enhanced its medical services with the introduction of its Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) examination, which is the first of its kind to be offered in Guyana.
Consultant ophthalmologist at the private health institution Dr. Neeraj Jain, in a brief presentation to members of the media on Friday, said the introduction of the new service puts Guyana on par with eye care in developed nations.
Essentially, the OCT is a non-invasive imaging test that uses light waves to take cross-section pictures of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eye. This technology has resolution of 5 microns to visualise what is not visible to the naked eyes.
For example, in the case of glaucoma, a condition of increased pressure within the eyeball, causing gradual loss of sight, not only is the OCT designed to diagnose it at its earliest stage but to also differentiate between presence and absence of glaucoma, with the most accuracy. “Often time glaucoma is not diagnosed until it’s in its late stage so when most of the people notice, it’s already too late,” Dr. Jain said. “OCT which utilises the detailed optic nerve evaluation, retinal nerve fiber layer analysis and ganglion cell complex analysis which can diagnose the glaucoma even before the conventional methods can diagnose it,” he added.
The ophthalmologist noted that considering both the fact that since 6 percent of the Afro Caribbean population and an estimated 3 to 4 percent of the Asian population are affected by glaucoma as well as Guyana’s ethnic makeup, it would be in the population’s interest to use the new service to their benefit.
“We are happy to have it with us as we are very sure that not only our patients but others can as well so that they can have a better diagnosis and get their condition managed in a better way… We should step up and diagnose it early and save the sight,” he posited.
OCT also has a very important role in many retinal conditions as it can recreate a three-dimensional view of the retina and underlying pathologies like age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, central serous chorioretinopathy, macular hole, vitreo macular traction, etc.
Presently, the OCT takes 5 to 10 minutes and comes at a cost of $5000 per eye.
Additionally, Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital will seek to raise awareness on glaucoma among its patients as a follow up the previous years of concentrating on First Degree Relatives (FDRs) due to them having a ten-fold increase in the risk of having glaucoma. It is its hope that by making FDRs aware of the need for glaucoma optic nerve testing and making diagnosed glaucoma patients aware of the need to inform their FDRs of this risk, that this will save a great deal of sight.
