Newly Published Clinical Trial Shows Unprecedented Accuracy of Rebion's Blinq® Vision Scanner in Pediatric Vision Screening
BOSTON, September 17, 2021 (Newswire.com) - The Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus has just published a clinical trial demonstrating that the blinq® vision scanner, produced by Rebion (Rebiscan, Inc), detected 100% of children in need of treatment for common - but often silent - vision-threatening eye conditions amblyopia and strabismus.
"These conditions are the #1 cause of vision loss in children, and yet hundreds of thousands of children today lose vision permanently because the findings can be too subtle for parents or pediatricians to detect in a normal well visit," said David G. Hunter, MD, PhD, co-inventor of the technology and co-founder of Rebion.
CLINICAL ADVANCE BASED ON YEARS OF SCIENCE
The blinq is the result of more than 20 years of research, initially conducted in collaboration with Dr. David Guyton at Johns Hopkins University, and more recently at Boston Children's Hospital. The technology, "retinal polarization scanning," involves a laser scan of both retinas to determine binocular eye function. The handheld instrument enables testing by clinical staff, who ask the child to look at a blinking smile emoji inside of the device for just a few seconds, yielding immediate results.
The study enrolled 193 children presenting for an eye exam at Eye Physicians of Central Florida (Maitland, Florida), including 140 who had no previous treatment for eye disease. Of these, there were 66 who had referral-warranted eye disease, and all 66 - 100% - were referred by the device. Specificity of the device was also very high at 91%.
Earlier trials, conducted by Dr. Eileen Birch and colleagues at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest using an early prototype known as the PVS, showed the promise of the new technology. These early trials led to FDA clearance of Rebion's proprietary technology and bolstered a 3-year study funded by the NIH's National Eye Institute that is also published in the same J AAPOS issue.
THE NEXT GENERATION IN VISION SCREENING
Blinq is the only vision screening device that has been FDA cleared for the detection of amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus. Existing vision screening technology can only estimate refractive error of the eyes but is not able to judge binocular function, key for the early detection of blinding eye disease.
"The blinq vision scanner is a powerful tool in the fight to eliminate vision loss from amblyopia and strabismus. By placing our technology in the hands of every pediatric practice and every preschool vision screening program in the country, blinq enables front-line screeners to prioritize those most in need for specialist care," says Justin Shaka, CEO of Rebion.
The blinq vision scanner is the first new vision screening technology in almost a decade and has been commercially available since late 2019. In addition to helping pediatricians confidently refer patients to ophthalmology, blinq is easily implemented into practice flow. "Our staff were comfortable with blinq from day one. It's really sped up the rooming process," according to Young-Ho Yoon, MD, Charles River Medical Associates.
The full study may be accessed at https://bit.ly/blinqJAAPOS. Pediatricians and public screening organizations can learn more by visiting www.rebion.net.
About Rebion, Inc.
Based on years of research and trials at major medical institutions, Rebion is commercializing breakthrough Neural Performance Scanning (NPS) to identify and help manage life-altering diseases that manifest from functional impairments in the brain, including amblyopia (lazy eye) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Rebion supports parent education for vision health in children of all ages with the free BabySee® app (www.babyseeapp.com) designed in collaboration with Boston Children's Hospital.
Contact information
Jeff Mortensen
877 499 9966
Source: Rebiscan, Inc.
