Just last week, I attended a virtual seminar held at Stanford’s BMIR Colloquia. Dr. David Rhew, VP of Healthcare at Microsoft gave a talk titled “Transformational AI Opportunities in Healthcare”. During the talk, he cited recent literature showing that choroidal thickness in the eye is directly related to eGFR levels, emphasizing: “There is a dynamic indicator, within the eye, that tells you what’s going on with the glomerulus!”
Who would have thought to make the connection between the kidneys and choroidal thickness? From my brief literature search after the seminar, it would seem that 2016 was the first time that researchers investigated those factors.
Dr. Rhew incorporated this finding into his overall message of how Microsoft is using AI to create a more integrated patient care experience—for patients who we lose on follow-up because they don’t show up to their PCP appointment, perhaps we can catch them at their eye appointment when they get glasses, and they can indirectly assess CKD progression.