VIDEO DIAGNOSTICS – A NEW DIRECTION
IN VETERINARY OPHTHALMOLOGYЕ
Author of the article and photos: Perepechaev K.A. DVM, Ph.D.
Article published: 24.09.2020 on www.optovet.com
The idea of using video systems to diagnose any pathologies is not new. For example, endoscopic diagnostics is an area of medicine where it is impossible to look inside the body with the eye. Gastroscopy, urethroscopy, bronchoscopy and the entire vast field of endoscopic surgery is based on the principle of observation or even manipulation, looking at the monitor. Video diagnostics in veterinary ophthalmology is based on the same principle: it is the use of video systems to detect eye pathologies and their observation on a computer screen or TV. However, video diagnostics in veterinary ophthalmology, nevertheless, has fundamental differences from endoscopic medicine. There are several of them:
1. The device for video diagnostics in veterinary ophthalmology must be convenient, light and portable. Since research is conducted on animals without anesthesia, in their natural state, animals are known to behave restlessly, fearfully or even aggressively. Accordingly, an important element of the work is the ease of manipulating the equipment, with the ability to quickly turn on the device at any time, conduct research, stop it, start again, remove or move the device, etc. (Fig. 1, 2).
2. The video system used for diagnostics in veterinary ophthalmology should provide the possibility of a significant magnification of the studied eye structures. To make an accurate ophthalmological diagnosis, in some cases, an increase of up to 50 times is necessary, with the possibility of smooth adjustment of the increase (Fig. 3, 4).
3. The amount of light used to illuminate the object under consideration must be sufficient but not excessive. If in endoscopic diagnostics, we can take an arbitrarily powerful lamp and illuminate the lumen of the esophagus and bronchus with light of maximum intensity, then sensitive eye structures do not tolerate excessive light flux, moreover, it is harmful to the retina. Accordingly, additional safety requirements and good light tolerance are imposed on the lighting system of ophthalmic video systems (Fig. 5, 6).
In Russia, the first serious work on the creation and use of video diagnostic systems in veterinary ophthalmology was published in 2011 in the journal Veterinary doctor, the article of Perepechaev K.A. Video Diagnostics in veterinary ophthalmology. Thus, 2011 can be considered the beginning of the creation of video diagnostic ophthalmic systems for veterinary medicine. Over the past 10 years, a huge number of different video diagnostic devices have been designed, each of which has been thoroughly tested directly in practical work by specialists of the Center for veterinary ophthalmology of Dr. Perepechaev.
Figure 1. Video diagnostics in horses (VDS START).
Figure 2. Video diagnostics in a giant
bat (VDS START).
Figure 3. Video diagnostics in Agama (VDS START).
Figure 4. Agama eye magnification X 50 (VDS START).
Figure 5. Video ophthalmoscopy in
a rabbit (VDS SPECIAL).
Figure 6. The fundus of the rabbit (VDS SPECIAL).
3. Video diagnostic systems for veterinary ophthalmology should be as universal as possible, so that with just one system, without changing equipment or installing any additional devices, a practicing ophthalmologist can conduct various ophthalmological studies, and at the same time, can work with animals of all types and sizes (from a mouse to a horse) (Fig.7, 8).
Figure 7. Bear examination (VDS START).
Figure 8. Examination of Sugar possum (VDS START).