![\"Scientist-develops-retinal-scan-technology-to-identify-early-childhood-autism-rapidnews-dailyrapid\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Scientist-develops-retinal-scan-technology-to-identify-early-childhood-autism-rapidnews-dailyrapid.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA Hong Kong scientist has developed a method to use machine learning and artificial intelligence to scan retinas of children as young as six to detect early autism or the risk of autism and hopes to develop a commercial product this year.<\/p>\n
Retinal eye scanning can help to improve early detection and treatment outcomes for children, said Benny Zee, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe importance of starting early intervention is that they are still growing, they are still developing. So there is a bigger chance of success,\u201d said Zee.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
His method uses a high-resolution camera with new computer software which analyses a combination of factors including fibre layers and blood vessels in the eye.<\/p>\n
The technology can be used to identify children at risk of autism and get them into treatment programmes sooner, said Zee.<\/p>\n
Seventy children were tested using the technology, 46 with autism and a control group of 24. The technology was able to identify children with autism 95.7 per cent of the time. The average age tested was 13, with the youngest being six.<\/p>\n
Zee\u2019s findings have been published in EClinicalMedicine, a peer-reviewed medical journal.<\/p>\n
Autism specialists welcomed his findings but said there remained a huge stigma, with parents often reluctant to believe their children have autism even when there are clear signs.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany times, parents will initially be in denial,\u201d said Dr Caleb Knight, who runs a private autism therapy centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you had a medical test or biological marker like this, it might facilitate parents not going into denial for longer periods and therefore the child would get treatment more quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Children with autism have to wait around 80 weeks to see a specialist in the public medical sector, according to an emailed statement from Hong Kong\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
Zee told Reuters that his research is intended to be a supplemental tool to a professional assessment by licensed healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Hong Kong scientist has developed a method to use machine learning and artificial intelligence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"yoast_head":"\n