Wednesday, July 16, 2025 7/16/2025

Investigation of the effect of lens refractive index on the measurement of axial length of the human eye for accommodation and cataract surgery

Award Number: R21EY035830
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/30/2024
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2026

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Investigation of the effect of lens refractive index on the measurement of axial length of the human eye for accommodation and cataract surgery - SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Measurements of the axial length (AL) of the eye have wide applications in eye research and the clinical practices of optometry and ophthalmology. The accuracy of AL measurements directly affects research studies results and the quality of vision-related clinical treatments. Current methods to measure AL make assumptions of the refractive index of the crystalline lens (NLens) that may induce significant measurement errors. It is therefore highly important to measure the NLens of individual eyes. Measurement of the NLens of the human eye in vivo has for long been a challenge, and as of today there are no practical methods to measure the NLens. One of the PIs (Dr. He) has recently developed a method to measure the NLens in vivo using a ray-traceable Scheimpflug imaging (RTSI) system combined with an anterior segment OCT. Another PI (Dr. Wang) has used a whole-eye OCT (WE-OCT) to measure AL before. The primary goal of the proposed project is to combine the RTSI with a whole-eye OCT (WE-OCT) to simultaneously measure the NLens and AL in human eyes in vivo. With this novel, non-contact system, the measured NLens will be used to derive accurate AL measurements for individual eyes. The system will be used to measure the change in the NLens and AL for a group of young adults during accommodation. The results of this study may provide highly significant insights in the possible role of accommodation in myopia development, as well as a method that can be used in clinic when measuring AL for myopia control purposes. This novel system will also be used to measure the NLens and AL for a group of patients with cataracts, both pre- and post-operatively. The results of this second study may be used to analyze the impact of measurement error of the AL due to using an average NLens on the visual quality of these patients after IOL implantation. Successful completion of the studies proposed here will allow us to: (1) better understand the mechanism underlying myopia development, (2) obtain more accurate measurements of AL during clinical care of patients with myopia, and (3) understand the impact of NLens measurement on AL measurement prior to cataract surgery. The proposed technique is highly impactful and will pose a substantial breakthrough in the methodology for accurately measuring AL of the human eye in research and clinical practice.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $222,208 )
2024	2024	THE NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY	424 BEACON ST	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Vision Research	000	1	9/9/2024	NEW	$222,208
														Subtotal = $222,208

Grand Total All Awards = $222,208

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Investigation of the effect of lens refractive index on the measurement of axial length of the human eye for accommodation and cataract surgery

Award Number: R21EY035830

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/30/2024

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2026

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer