Clinical highlights – December 2024
For this last newsletter of 2024, we wanted to share for the first time an exclusive content about our device – neuroClues.
This month, we explain how the reference oculomotor ranges in our eye tracking device are calculated.
We are excited to share insights into the potential of neuroClues and eye tracking. Every month, we keep you updated on the latest news shared by the scientific community.
Enjoy the reading!
Reference Oculomotor Ranges — Computed by neuroClues®
A quick reminder of the setup:
After the patient is installed in front of neuroClues, protocols for the test are selected based on the reason for their visit. Once the test is completed, a detailed report will be available, allowing for a deeper analysis of each movement’s performance.
Here’s an example of what the report looks like:
The consultation report (as shown on the screen above) presents a range of computed biomarkers for each protocol performed. For example, it includes the patient’s latency, calculated as the median latency across all trials within the protocol. Alongside these computed biomarkers, reference oculomotor ranges are provided. This allows clinicians to compare the patient’s results with established ranges from scientific literature. This facilitates an informed assessment of the patient’s outcomes relative to reference oculomotor ranges.
It’s important to note that neuroClues® is only intended to aid in diagnosis and not to be self-sufficient for performing a diagnosis. Diagnosis shall always be confirmed by other forms of examination, including the patient’s medical history, previous tests, and other relevant factors. In this newsletter, we’ll take a closer look at how the reference range is calculated.
1. Gathering the data
To compute these reference values, our team of experts conducted a systematic literature review. During this process, they gathered all relevant data to establish the reference oculomotor ranges for eye tracking. Next, we carefully filtered the available literature. This step ensured that only accurate, high-quality data was used in creating these ranges.
Search criteria
We selected a range of literature based on the following criteria:
- Publications from 2002 to 2022, covering 20 years of research on eye tracking to gather as much information as possible on reference values.
- Only peer-reviewed journals, studies involving human subjects, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews were included.
- Publications that focused on eye tracking in general populations.
We excluded:
- Conference abstracts and posters
- Duplicated data
Additionally, our team of eye tracking experts, with extensive knowledge of the field, included well-regarded literature. This covered studies that might not have appeared in our searches but are recognized within the eye tracking community.
Appraisal scores
We developed a detailed assessment criteria with scores to evaluate the literature and determine whether it should be included for reference values. The maximum score a study could receive was 900, and studies with scores below 500 were excluded.
Search results
Note: The searches conducted in 2023 and 2024 differed not only in their timeframes but also in their search queries, and were therefore performed on two distinct databases
2. Methods and Calculations
Let’s break down the math behind it. We looked at the biomarker ranges for healthy individuals based on our literature search. Additionally, we accounted for the fact that the biomarker reference range varies depending on the selected protocol. For instance, the reference range for antisaccade latency differs from that of saccade latency.
From the articles we reviewed, we mostly found the mean (average) values and standard deviations for healthy participants. For each article and each parameter, we did the following:
- We calculated the lower bound by subtracting two times the standard deviation from the average.
- We calculated the upper bound by adding two times the standard deviation to the average.
Finally, for each parameter, we found the median between the lower and upper bounds. This gives us a range that represents what’s considered as a reference for healthy people.
3. Refining Oculomotor Reference Ranges with neuroClues Data
This is just the beginning of our journey. Our goal is to collect a comprehensive dataset through ongoing clinical and pharmaceutical studies, as well as from clinicians during their consultations. As we gather more data, we will be able to refine and improve the accuracy of the reference oculomotor ranges, making them even more precise than the current ones.
Ultimately, our aim is to develop a database that will be built from data recorded directly by neuroClues, enabling us to create highly accurate reference oculomotor ranges.
Enjoyed this article?
Join our community to receive a monthly newsletter featuring insights on the relevance of eye tracking in the clinic and exclusive company updates
