There are close to one million glaucoma patients in Germany. Universitätsklinikum Münster has recently started a project called SALUS to find out how glaucoma treatment could be optimized if the patients could monitor their eye pressure at home.
iCare is strongly involved in the SALUS project as the study is conducted with the iCare HOME self-tonometers. There will be 1100 patients who will be trained to use iCare HOME and to measure their eye pressure throughout the day for one week according to doctor’s instructions. The results obtained with self-tonometry can be viewed by the attending ophthalmologist. He or she will have access to information on daily profiles of eye pressure and can adjust glaucoma treatment accordingly, if needed. The results of treating 1100 patients utilizing the information from self-tonometry will be compared with the results of treating the same number of patients with regular care i.e. admitting them to the clinic for three days of eye pressure measurements. The important comparison criteria will include the effectiveness and cost of care.
iCare is proud to be part of this important project by delivering the tonometers used in the study. Outpatient self-measurement of eye pressure and availability of information on daily eye pressure fluctuations could lead to earlier adjustment of glaucoma treatment and help prevent damages to the optic nerve.