FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tenneh Bonsu, Communications Director, RetiVue LLC, (888) 738-4883, tenneh@retivue.com
Charlottesville, Virginia – (January 6, 2025) With a mission to improve the lives of children and adolescents with cancer, Fundación Amigos del Niño con Leucemia y Cáncer (FANLYC) is constantly seeking new approaches to better deliver healthcare in Panama. Recently, RetiVue was fortunate to partner with FANLYC, providing its innovative EntireEye WideField Portable Retina Camera to help improve eyecare for its patients.
RetiVue LLC worked with Dr. Roberto Yee and his team at Fundación Amigos del Niño con Leucemia y Cáncer in Panama City, Panama to introduce its camera into their practice. After first training with RetiVue’s Premature Infant Training Kit, Dr. Yee and his team connected with RetiVue real-time, via a secure, HIPAA compliant internet connection, directly from their operating room. With guidance from RetiVue’s Founder and CEO, Dr. Paul Yates, and RetiVue’s Software Engineer, Nelson Planting, Dr. Yee and his team captured 205-degree field of view images of the retina of a child undergoing an exam under anesthesia for retinoblastoma. Dr. Yates was able to review camera operation by Dr. Yee’s team and, through remote control of the device, directly assist in image capture in the operating room in Panama while stationed thousands of miles away in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Retinoblastoma is a cancer of the eye that forms in the tissue of the retina. It occurs in 1 in 15,000 births, and unfortunately is often not diagnosed before the age of 2 given that the tumor must grow large enough to affect the red reflex of the eye to be seen in photos of the child. It is the most common malignant tumor in the eye in children, requiring urgent treatment using chemotherapy, laser therapy, and even enucleation, or removal of the eye, to avoid the cancer from spreading to other parts of the body. RetiVue hopes through its innovative and cost-effective approach to enable earlier diagnosis of this disease, leading to improved vision for these children.
Multiple different healthcare professionals operated the camera in Panama, as Dr. Yates and Mr. Planting helped them properly position and align the camera with the child’s eye. Gradually, each operator became more comfortable with the lightweight, non-contact, and handheld design of our EntireEye Portable System and were able to take clear images of the child’s retina. This allowed their team to document disease progression and assist in consideration of possible treatment options for the child. The 205 degree field of view of our device covers in a single image almost four times the retinal area of conventional baby eye screening cameras. This can allow for quicker and more accurate screening of babies.
Dr. Roberto Yee and his team were also able to pair our camera with a gonioscopy lens, examining the angles and anterior segment of the child’s eye. He commented that the images of the child’s eye angles with RetiVue’s Portable System were the first of their kind taken at Fundación Amigos del Niño con Leucemia y Cáncer.
RetiVue’s WideField Imaging System technology captures crisp and precise imaging of the retina in a non-contact, sterile manner to improve eye screening for conditions such as retinoblastoma. Our different lens options allow for a wider field of view to aid providers in quickly diagnosing and treating a myriad of retinal diseases. As we saw with Dr. Yee and his team, the unique design of our camera allows for multiple photos in the anterior segment of the eye to be taken as well, potentially expanding screening efforts beyond retinal disease and around the world.
We are extremely honored to work with Dr. Yee and his team in Panama. Their groundbreaking efforts have allowed us to continue improving our device to enable optimal provider and patient experience.
For additional information contact Tenneh Bonsu or visit RetiVue.
ABOUT RETIVUE LLC: Our mission is to prevent blindness in underserved, medically at-risk populations by creating innovative, affordable products and solutions that aid in the early documentation of eye disease.