Photoscreening for amblyogenic factors

Abstract

Background: The Medical Technology Inc (MTI) Photoscreener is a new eccentric photoscreener that is being marketed as a device for the detection of amblyogenic factors in preverbal children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the MTI Photoscreener in the target population of young, healthy children.

Methods: One thousand and three healthy children between the age of 6 months and 59 months were photoscreened with the MTI Photoscreener. Nine hundred and forty nine children were included in the study and their results were compared with a complete ophthalmologic examination with cycloplegia.

Results: The sensitivity of the MTI Photoscreener was determined to be 81.8% with a specificity of 90.6%. The overall agreement rate was 88.8%. The positive and negative predictive values were 68.9% and 95.2%, respectively. All cases of strabismus and media opacities were detected.

Conclusion: The MTI Photoscreener is an accurate and reliable device designed to detect amblyogenic factors in young children. The camera offers promise as a useful mass-screening tool.