AI diagnostic company IDx revealed on Tuesday that it has developed the clinically-aligned autonomous algorithms IDx-DR to identify and detect diabetic retinopathy using artificial intelligence in a growing number of diabetic patient across the US .

The company said IDx-DR, an US FDA-cleared AI system that detects diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness, now does not require a physician to interpret the images or results. the device allows patients who are at high risk for this blinding eye disease to be tested in non-eye care settings.

More than 30 million Americans have diabetes and an estimated 24,000 lose vision each year from diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes. If caught in its early stages, vision loss and blindness are almost entirely preventable, yet only about half of people with diabetes get regular eye exams.

Recently, a diabetes education centre at a hospital in New Orleans, LA has adopted the company's IDx-DR to enhance their existing diabetic retinopathy detection programme. Their goal is to increase the number of patients they are able to test from 10-13 to over 20 a day.

Additionally, Madhu Mohan, MD, an endocrinologist at Riverside Medical Associates in Riverdale, MD, is now using IDx-DR to test his patients during their regularly scheduled visits, concluded the company.