The Ophthalmic Imaging Network is a regional collaboration among three centers in Southwestern Ontario and one centre in Sault Ste. Marie to improve regional access to diagnostic fluorescein angiography to enable, through screening processes, earlier diagnoses of retinal diseases. The four centers are linked via the Internet and digital imaging acquisition cameras and software. Pictures of a patients eye are taken in the satellite hospital and London acts as the consultant site, having a retinal specialist review the pictures and report the findings. The patients no longer have to travel to London to receive diagnostic fluorescein angiography. Care is provided closer to home.
The Network will also serve as the foundation for the establishment of a Clinical Research Centre where research will be conducted into new modes of therapy and new forms of early detection and intervention.
London serves as the referral centre for patients with retinal diseases from a wide geographic area, stretching from Windsor in the west to Guelph in the east and from the shore of Lake Erie in the south to Sault Ste. Marie in the north. This catchment area represents a population of about 1.5 million people. This very large and geographically diverse referral population poses great challenges in the management of retinal disease, like diabetes and macular degeneration, where patients often require repeat examinations and fluorescein angiography as the diseases are followed over prolonged periods of time. The satellite sites allows the provision of the diagnostic fluorescein angiography in specific regions of the Southwest.
It is important that patients and their local ophthalmologists have the appropriate information about a diagnosis--particularly in those cases where monitoring a situation is the preferred approach. Given current and projected patient volumes, the ability to pre-screen patients in a timely manner and to select those requiring urgent intervention is also critical. With the availability of digital technology, the image of the patient's eye is now transferable.
The two main retinal diseases supported by the network: