Integration of smartphone technology and artificial intelligence for advanced ophthalmic care: A systematic review

Background The convergence of smartphone technology and artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the landscape of ophthalmic care, offering unprecedented opportunities for diagnosis, monitoring, and management of ocular conditions. Nevertheless, there is a lack of systematic studies on discussing the integration of smartphone and AI in this field. Main text This review includes 52 studies, and explores the integration of smartphones and AI in ophthalmology, delineating its collective impact on screening methodologies, disease detection, telemedicine initiatives, and patient management. The collective findings from the curated studies indicate promising performance of the smartphone-based AI screening for various ocular diseases which encompass major retinal diseases, glaucoma, cataract, visual impairment in children and ocular surface diseases. Moreover, the utilization of smartphone-based imaging modalities, coupled with AI algorithms, is able to provide timely, efficient and cost-effective screening for ocular pathologies. This modality can also facilitate patient self-monitoring, remote patient monitoring and enhancing accessibility to eye care services, particularly in underserved regions. Challenges involving data privacy, algorithm validation, regulatory frameworks and issues of trust are still need to be addressed. Furthermore, evaluation on real-world implementation is imperative as well, and real-world prospective studies are currently lacking. Conclusions Smartphone ocular imaging merged with AI enables earlier, precise diagnoses, personalized treatments, and enhanced service accessibility in eye care. Collaboration is crucial to navigate ethical and data security challenges while responsibly leveraging these innovations, promising a potential revolution in care access and global eye health equity.