Carl Zeiss Meditec Joins Forces with Ilmenau University to Combat Blindness

Joint research into new diagnostic techniques offers benefits to both patients and doctors

In most eye diseases, early, precise diagnosis is the best way to prevent serious visual impairments up to and including blindness. The multimodal combination of different diagnostic techniques, allowing the timely and targeted treatment of eye disorders, is the focus of a research project jointly launched by Carl Zeiss Meditec AG and Ilmenau University in Germany, together with the “Ophthalmoinnovation Thüringen” research federation and other firms in the ophthalmic sector.

The planned integration of individual diagnostic methods provides a much more exact, detailed and complete diagnosis. Patient therapy improves due to the integration of aids to help the doctor decide on the correct therapy. Duplicate examinations are avoided. In addition, integrated diagnosis means that the doctor no longer needs to cope with floods of data, therefore helping to increase efficiency in health care.

“Particularly in the case of such widespread diseases as diabetes, the approach we are taking in our project could help prevent blindness in many people" says Prof. Dr. Jens Haueisen from Ilmenau University. In Germany alone, roughly 30,000 people have lost their sight through diabetes – and the trend is increasing. By avoiding unnecessary examinations, many millions of dollars could be saved in the German health care system.

In the 5-year project sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), three examination methods will be combined: microcirculation, electro and metabolic diagnosis. Eight research scientists will be working on the project at Ilmenau University. Close collaboration with the development division of Carl Zeiss Meditec has recently begun.