????在治療青光眼上，眼科醫(yī)生的目標(biāo)通常是確保病人不會失明。

????這個目標(biāo)看似不難，只要給他們開點眼藥水或讓他們?nèi)プ鍪中g(shù)就行了，手術(shù)主要是為了降低眼壓。但是憑借現(xiàn)有技術(shù)，測量眼壓是有難度的，因為眼壓的波動比較大，而且測眼壓的過程必須要在醫(yī)生的辦公室里完成。

????但是借助于《自然醫(yī)學(xué)》雜志描述的一種新設(shè)備，這種情況可能很快就會改變。

????美國斯坦福大學(xué)（Stanford University）和以色列巴伊蘭大學(xué)（Bar-Ilan University）的研究團(tuán)隊設(shè)計了一款可植入式的傳感器，通過智能手機(jī)攝像頭就可以獲得它的讀數(shù)。因此患者完全可以自行讀取讀數(shù)，同時它也提高了眼壓數(shù)據(jù)的準(zhǔn)確性。

????巴伊蘭大學(xué)的約西?曼德爾表示：“我們認(rèn)為，這款可植入眼壓傳感器帶來的自我監(jiān)測能力，可以顯著提高青光眼的治療，并改善患者的處境。”《自然醫(yī)學(xué)》雜志上的這篇論文就是曼德爾與斯坦福大學(xué)的伊斯梅爾?阿拉西、蘇寶龍（音譯）和史蒂芬?R?奎克合作撰寫的。

????曼德爾補(bǔ)充道：“現(xiàn)在，我認(rèn)為我們對青光眼治療得還不夠好。患者偶爾到醫(yī)院來一趟，然后我們測量到的是他們在某個時間點上的眼壓。這可能不夠好。我們從其它研究得知，眼壓會有很大變化。哪怕在同一天里，眼壓也會有很大的變化。”

????青光眼是一系列眼科疾病的統(tǒng)稱，在大多數(shù)情況下會導(dǎo)致眼內(nèi)壓增高，全球青光眼患者超過6500萬人。一旦眼壓升高，視神經(jīng)就會受到損傷，導(dǎo)致視網(wǎng)膜細(xì)胞死亡，神經(jīng)纖維退化，最終直至永久失明。

????青光眼有好幾種不錯的診斷方法，但是能對病情進(jìn)行監(jiān)測，以了解治療是否有效的辦法只有一種——它叫做Goldman壓平眼壓計測量法或GAT。用這種方法測量眼壓，首先需要在醫(yī)生的辦公室里將患者的眼部麻醉，然后用一根塑料棱鏡按壓患者的角膜來測量眼壓。這種方法不僅難受、復(fù)雜，而且根據(jù)多項研究顯示，并不是非常精確。

????曼德爾在接受電話采訪時表示：“可惜的是，現(xiàn)在病人還不能像量血壓一樣自行監(jiān)測自己的眼壓。青光眼病人必須到醫(yī)院去。在一項研究中，研究人員測量了患者24小時內(nèi)的眼壓，發(fā)現(xiàn)患者一天內(nèi)的眼壓有很大波動。所以他們對80%的患者改變了治療方法?！?/p>

????曼德爾表示，這款自測試備的直徑只有50微米，長度只有幾毫米，看起來像一根極微小的管子。曼德爾稱，這款在奎克的實驗室開發(fā)出來的設(shè)備可以植入人的眼中。

????When it comes to treating glaucoma, the goal of eye doctors is assuring their patient don’t go blind.

????That would seem relatively easy. Give them eye drops or refer them to surgery, which helps relieve what is known as intraocular pressure (IOP) inside the eye. But with current technology, it can often be difficult to measure this pressure because it fluctuates so much and those measurements have to be done in a doctor’s office.

????That soon could change, thanks to a new device described in Nature Medicine.

????A team of researchers from Stanford University and Bar-Ilan University in Israel has designed an implantable sensor that can be read with a smartphone camera. This allows the patient to take readings themselves and should improve the accuracy of pressure data.

????“We believe this self-monitoring capabilities of the implant can significantly enhance the treatment and make it significantly better for the patient,” said Bar-Ilan’s Yossi Mandel, who co-authored the paper with Ismail Araci, Baolong Su and Stephen R. Quake of Stanford.

????“Today, we think we are not treating them good enough,” he added. “They come once in a while and we take a single point in time of measurement. This probably is not good enough and we know from other studies that there is large variation in the IOP. In the same day, it can vary a lot.”

????Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that in most cases produces increased pressure within the eye and affects more than 65 million people worldwide. When the eye pressure is increased, the optic nerve becomes damaged, resulting in the death of the retinal cells, degeneration of the nerve fibers and eventually permanent loss of vision.

????There are several good methods to diagnosing glaucoma but only one that monitors the disease to ensure the prescribed treatments are working. Called the Goldman applanationtonometery, or GAT, the method requires that the eye be anesthetized in a physician’s office and then a plastic prism makes contact with the cornea to measure the pressure. Not only is this uncomfortable and complex but this technique has been found in several studies to be inaccurate.

????“Unfortunately, the patient can’t today measure his own IOP like he would with hypertension where you can measure your own blood pressure. Glaucoma patients have to go to their physicians,” Mandel said in a phone interview. “In one study, they measured IOP over 24 hours and saw there were large variations. In about 80 percent of the patients, they changed the treatment.”

????The self-monitoring device, Mandel said, is about 50 microns in diameter and a few millimeters long. Looking much like a small tube, Mandel said the device developed in Quake’s lab is implanted in the eye.