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Barcelona Esquerra Glaucoma Artificial Intelligence-based Screening Program (BEGAS)

Barcelona Esquerra Glaucoma Artificial Intelligence-based Screening Program (BEGAS): Artificial Intelligence Applied to Optic Nerve Retinographies for a Glaucoma Screening Program in a Primary-care Setting

Status
Recruiting
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06353542
Acronym
BEGAS
Enrollment
500
Registered
2024-04-09
Start date
2024-05-02
Completion date
2026-09-30
Last updated
2024-10-09

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Glaucoma

Keywords

Artificial Intelligence, Diagnostic Test: Glaucoma Screening

Brief summary

Two primary care-based screening systems will be tested to identify subjects with referrable glaucoma to hospital care. Subjects between 45 to 64 years old living in the metropolitan area of Barcelona will be invited to participate in a one-time visit, with an optic disc examination and intraocular pressure (IOP). The criteria for referring a patient will be the detection of glaucoma but with two different approaches depending on which Integrated Practice Unit (IPU) the patients will be allocated to: one arm using an Artificial Intelligence (AI) reading software of the optic disc picture; and the other one will base their referral after an ophthalmic examination performed by an ophthalmologist. In both circuits, an optic nerve head photography will be obtained, and a masked reading center will be established to determine the ground truth for diagnosis. This screening trial will explore the level of agreement between both systems and the cost-effectiveness of each of them. Secondary analyses will include potential diagnostic composite scores (including other ancillary tests, such as optical coherence tomography images, that could maximize the screening process); the identification of population and disease characteristics (type of glaucoma, intraocular pressure) that could increase the effectivity and adherence to the screening process.

Detailed description

The purpose of this study is twofold: to validate in our population an Artificial Intelligence (AI) reading software of the optic disc picture, after comparing the estimated result (glaucoma/suspect/normal) to the ground truth; and to conduct a clinical trial where the level of agreement between both systems and the cost-effectiveness of each of them will be tested In the first phase, a set of patients from our reference population will be selected. A standard-of-care ophthalmic examination with the usual ancillary tests to confirm or rule out the presence of glaucoma (including an optic disc retinography), will be performed. The patient (and the test) will be examined by a glaucoma specialist who will determine the status of the patient. Then, the retinography will be analyzed by the AI software, providing the estimated result (glaucoma/suspect/normal). The level of agreement between the ground truth and the casted result will confirm the diagnostic accuracy. In the second phase, a second set of patients will be recruited. In this case, the patients will be randomly allocated to either of the two arms of the study: In arm A the ancillary tests (including the retinography) will be performed, and the software will analyze the retinography, therefore providing the glaucoma status result. In arm B, the patients (and the test) will be examined by a glaucoma specialist who will then determine the status of the patient. All the patients, irrespective of the diagnosis and the arm of the study will be then explored by another glaucoma specialist (reading center), who will be blinded to where the diagnosis comes from (AI software or glaucoma specialist), to the determine the level of agreement between the two screening systems

Interventions

DIAGNOSTIC_TESTSoftware analysis

The tested AI software analyzes the optic disc retinography to determine if the patient is healthy, a glaucoma suspect, or a glaucoma case

The ophthalmologist (a glaucoma specialist) will analyze the tests and will examine the patient to determine if the patient is healthy, a glaucoma suspect or a glaucoma case

Sponsors

Hospital Clinic of Barcelona
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SCREENING
Masking
DOUBLE (Caregiver, Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
40 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Patients aged 40 to 80 years old from our reference population * Family history of glaucoma * Willingness to participate * Signed written informed consent

Exclusion criteria

* Not signing the informed consent * Patients that had a previous diagnosis of glaucoma or any ophthalmic disease that required a regular ophthalmic examination and/or treatment * Congenital or childhood glaucoma * History of strabismus or amblyopia * Known ophthalmic diseases which imply media opacity (cataract, cornea opacities) that might preclude from taking fundus retinographies

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Diagnostic agreement between the AI software and the ophthalmic examination18 monthsLevel of agreement between the casted result by the AI software and the ophthalmic examination. This will be determined by the reading person (study chair)
Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL)18 monthsHealth-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) assessed by Euro Quality of Life -5 Dimensions (EQ-5D), for each arm of the clinical trial. It consists of a visual analog scale, ranging from 0 to 100 (0 being the worst imaginable health and 100 the best health the patient can imagine)
Demographics18 monthsQuantitative analysis of age, gender, ethnicity, and family history of glaucoma differences between the two arms

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Cost-effective analysis of both screening methods18 monthsCost-effective analysis will be conducted on each arm of the study comparing direct costs, and degree of visual impairment and comparing it to other screening programs (case-finding scenario) Mean costs and effects to estimate the Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER, in euros, €) for artificial intelligence software screening versus ophthalmic examination will be compared
Intraocular pressure18 monthsIntraocular pressure values of glaucoma, suspects, and healthy patients of each arm of the study (in mmHg)
Risk score with parameters associated with positive screening of glaucoma6 monthsAnalysis of the demographics (present or absent), ocular characteristics (present or absent), OCT values (in micrometers), and visual field values (in decibels) that could be associated with an increased likeliness of glaucoma diagnosis The degree of contribution of each parameter will be analyzed in a multivariate logistic regression, and then a risk score will be created using a scale from 1 to 100 (with being 1 the lowest value and 100 being the highest) to show how each parameter contributes to a positive glaucoma diagnosis
Optical coherence tomography (OCT)18 monthsOCT values of glaucoma, suspects, and healthy patients of each arm of the study (thickness reported in micrometers)
Visual field18 monthsVisual field defects (mean deviation, in decibels) of glaucoma, suspects, and healthy patients of each arm of the study

Countries

Spain

Contacts

Primary ContactNestor Ventura Abreu, MD, PhD
neventura@clinic.cat+34932275400

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026