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Doctor Gets Cutting Edge 3-D Gadget

JESSE OSBOURNE/Highlands Today

Optometric Assistant Alma Garcia demonstrates the new 3D Optical Coherence Tomography machine at the office of Sevigny & Johnson in Avon Park.

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By Jim  Konkoly | Highlands Today

Published: November 1, 2007

AVON PARK — For about four years, said Dr. Ron Sevigny, eye doctors have been awaiting development of a break-through technology that gives a much more detailed and three dimensional view of the retina.
On Monday, that technology — the Spectral Domain OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) — went into service at Sevigny & Johnson Eye Care on U.S. 27 North.

Sevigny said this brand new, FDA approved technology is 25 times more accurate than the current, industry standard OCT machines.

"This will translate into better diagnoses, better monitoring and better treatment of patients with retinal disease," Sevigny said.

"It is kind of like an MRI of the retina," he added, "that will provide us with methods for early detection of macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy prior to disease progression and the loss of eyesight." He said this new technology allows doctors to "map the exact location of retinal abnormalities, many of which cannot even be seen with time domain (standard) OCT."

His partner, Dr. Terry Johnson, added, "We can see things that earlier you couldn't tell were there."
The manufacturer of this new technology, Topcon Medical Systems Inc., of Paramus, N.J., will officially introduce it in 10 days at the annual conference of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in New Orleans.

Sevigny said his practice was able to obtain it early because his son, Dr. Mark Sevigny, who recently joined his practice, worked with it on a project at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, which was rated the No. 1 eye hospital in the world by U.S. News and World Report.

Sevigny & Johnson Eye Care is the only private practice eye clinic in Florida with this new technology, and only the second in the Southeastern states. The nearest private practice with this new technology is in Atlanta, Johnson said.

"There are about 400 worldwide right now, and most are in hospitals and research centers," Sevigny said.

Sevigny said this technology is so revolutionary and valuable that eventually "I think every major eye clinic will have it."

Current, industry-standard OCTs allow eye doctors to view the retina on a two-dimensional image made from laser scans of 768 individual points, he said. The new diagnostic tool not only provides a three-dimensional view, but also "scans 65,536 points, in the blink of the eyes," he said.

Sevigny said the Special Domain OCT is especially useful in early diagnosis of macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma, the top three causes of blindness for people over age 60.

"If you can detect early and get people into treatment earlier, the chance of preventing further visual loss is much greater, the prognosis is much improved," Sevigny said. Early detection and treatment is especially important for macular degeneration, he said.

Sevigny and Johnson are offering this technology at the same cost to patients as the standard OCT scans they previously used. With a high volume practice, they said, they expect to pay for the machine in about five years.

"This is about taking care of our patients," Johnson said. "We're excited about the opportunity to offer it, it's an amazing technology."

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