Case Study: Carol’s Experience

Participants

RadiusXR and Carol

Project Type

Patient Comfort-Driven Diagnostic Advances

Project Date

September 2024

The Patient

The Patient

Carol is a senior woman, living in Santa Rosa, California. Though now retired, Carol’s former career in healthcare, and the beautiful, natural environment of Santa Rosa has long inspired her to live an active, healthy lifestyle — a passion she shared with her beloved husband.

He was super healthy, a runner,” Carol recalls. “[He] was short of breath one day, and within three days was diagnosed with duodenal cancer, and died 49 days later.”

I’ve always tried to live healthy, so I’ve never really thought about it, that I had a finite number of years left… until my husband died in early 2017. And then it became a very predominant thought with me: ‘I only have X amount of years left.’ I think it’s the finiteness of how much time you have left. I never thought about that before, and I think I then started to look for joy in every single day.”

For Carol, one of the most dire challenges to her health as she ages is her vision — critical to any person’s independence. She was diagnosed with macular degeneration and glaucoma, and feared that vision loss might impede the active, independent lifestyle she values so much.

You really do have to take care of yourself, you have to eat right, get enough sleep, exercise, avail yourself of the best medical care that you can,” Carol explains. “Having my vision is a huge part of being able to enjoy later life.”

01 The Challenge

01 The Challenge

Carol’s ophthalmologist, Dr. Jason Bacharach of North Bay Eye Associates, understood Carol’s vision challenges and concerns.

Carol’s unique in the fact that she has a really good grasp on her disease — macular degeneration and glaucoma,” Dr. Bacharach explains. “Carol comes in anywhere from quarterly to trimesterly,” prioritizing her eye health.

Traditionally, testing for glaucoma is done with a bowl perimetry machine, which Dr. Bacharach describes as “a large, usually bulky, stationary device.”

Unfortunately, Carol is not comfortable with the perimetry machine.
Testing of peripheral vision is very important in terms of the condition I have. And I always complain about it bitterly. In fact, I whine, because I’m claustrophobic, and it requires that you put your head in this big bubble. I just hate it, hate it, hate it.”

Dr. Bacharach, always abreast of and involved with innovative solutions in his field, had a better way to monitor Carol’s condition, without subjecting her to the claustrophobic perimetry machine.

Carol remembers the day everything changed. “Dr. Bacharach said, ‘Well, there’s something better now. Will you give it a try?’”
The-Challenge
The Patient-Carol-Solution

02 The Solution

02 The Solution

You have this very small, very portable unit that functions as a visual field machine to check somebody’s peripheral vision.

That “something better now” is RadiusXR — a wearable vision diagnostic system with data-driven intelligence. Weighing just six ounces, it’s the lightest VRP available to eye care professionals, exclusively designed and developed by Radius, and back by a customized software platform with fully-integrated cloud technology to securely manage patient and clinic data.

“With the RadiusXR test, it’s portable,” Dr. Bacharach enthuses. “We could take people with arthritis, we could take people that have challenges with confinement, and we can put them in an immersive [testing] experience anywhere. You have this very small, very portable unit that functions as a visual field machine to check somebody’s peripheral vision.”

And RadiusXR provides life-altering results. “We try to identify those cells that are preferentially damaged early,” Dr. Bacharach explains. “So we show light stimuli in those areas where glaucoma typically occurs to catch it — “a-ha!” — and we can see it on the test.”

03 Results

For Carol, RadiusXR safeguards her vision and her healthy, active lifestyle. “Had I not been referred to Dr. Bacharach, who keeps up with everything that’s new, I probably would have lost the ability to drive, which is super important if you want to be independent. Possibly lost the ability to read, which is very important to me.”

Carol’s experience with RadiusXR has bolstered her confidence in modern healthcare: “The other thing is, using the Radius, it just reinforces to me that new technology can really make my life possibly longer but definitely more enjoyable.”

Dr. Bacharach has seen first-hand how RadiusXR offers more comfort and ease compared to traditional methods, as well as superior clinical benefits. “I’m happy that I get to help people every day, but what is most amazing is to see how much better we can manage these diseases over time, in one generation of healthcare delivery. People are engaged. They’re active. And aging, what I may have thought of it 30 years ago, and what I think about today, are really different. People are just out there, living life to its fullest.”
RadiusXR’s low profile — lightweight and portable — and high performance is a win for doctor and patient alike.

Enjoying staying alive is the goal,” says Carol. “I want to enjoy it. Just staying alive isn’t the goal. I think that used to be the old thought — old age meant decline, decay, loss of independence, loss of enjoyment. And that shouldn’t be.”

I don’t want to just live,” Carol movingly shares, “I want to live well.”
“I don’t want to just live, I want to live well.” – Carol

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