iCare: a new instrument to measure eye pressure

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  iCare: a new instrument to measure eye pressure

• IRAS ID

  8938

• Contact name

  Annegret Dahlmann-Noor

• Sponsor organisation

  Moorfields Eye Hospital

• ISRCTN Number

  Not Submitted

• Research summary

  Glaucoma is a potentially blinding condition which affects around 1 in 10,000 children in the UK every year. Raised intraocular pressure (IOP) is an important risk factor for the progression of optic nerve damage in these children, and is the target of both medical (eye drops, oral medication) and surgical treatment. Intraocular pressure needs to be measured at regular intervals in children with glaucoma. Current standard methods of measurement in paediatric glaucoma clinics are Goldmann, Perkins and Tonopen tonometry. All these methods require the instillation of drops which numb the surface of the eye (topical anaesthetics) before measurements can be obtained. In 2005 a new device to measure intraocular pressure became available, the iCare© rebound tonometer. Its main advantage over other instruments is that no topical anaesthesia is required. This device may be of great interest for the management of children with glaucoma, if it proves to be accurate and reliable in this population. Children do not like the instillation of anaesthetic eyedrops, and the rebound tonometer may spare them this step in the examination procedure. The iCare tonometer has been evaluated in adults with glaucoma and in healthy children, but not in children with glaucoma. We propose to conduct this study to evaluate accuracy and reliability of this new device in children with glaucoma. We will recruit 250 children age 5-16 years into the study and compare measurements obtained by the iCare tonometer with those obtained by the Goldmann tonometer (gold standard). These readings will be collected at the patients' routine clinic appointment and will take about 10 minutes. The study is expected to last 8 months. This study is sponsored by Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and will be conducted at Moorfields and at the Birmingham & Midlands Eye Centre.

• REC name

  London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  08/H0720/150

• Date of REC Opinion

  30 Dec 2008

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion