The first part of the pioneering test, developed by researchers at University College London, is called DARC.
DARC involves injecting dye into a person s bloodstream to illuminate stressed endothelial cells in the retina, so they appear bright white under a fluorescent camera.
These stressed retinal cells could lead to abnormalities and later leaking blood vessels – causing AMD, which can severely compromise the central field of vision.
The second part of the test uses an AI algorithm, trained to detect whether the highlighted white spots are around the macula – which indicates high AMD risk.
The AI is more objective and consistent than the judgements of human clinicians, and it can also analyse thousands of images of the retina.