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uh june was vision research awareness

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month uh one of

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my colleagues here at uh nasa public

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affairs brandy dean actually got a

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chance to talk to one of the doctors

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involved in this research taking place

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on board the station she was able to

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actually get a personal demonstration

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and learn a little bit more about this

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research taking place on board the

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orbiting laboratory

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hi welcome to the flight medicine

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optometry clinic at johnson space center

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where in honor of flight research

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awareness month we are here talking with

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dr bob gibson who's one of our

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optometrists and he's going to tell us a

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little bit about some of the research

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we're doing with the crew members on

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station to find out what might be

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causing the vision problem some of them

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have when they return from long flights

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in space thanks so much for joining us

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bob glad to be here

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so let's see what what exactly um are we

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looking at here

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well

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this device here is uh

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known as optical coherence tomography

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which

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to look at the various structures in the

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back of the eye

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as you may be aware a significant number

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of our long-duration flyers have

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returned from space with structural

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changes to the eye we're seeing a

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swelling of the optic nerve

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wrinkles to the retina and the choroid

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in the back of the eye

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as well as far sided shifts in their

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vision

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and to better give us a better

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understanding

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for these structural changes we have

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this diagnostic tool again known as oct

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which allows us to

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measure the back of the eye

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non-invasively

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light instead of

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ultrasound

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ultrasonic devices which use sound waves

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we use light waves

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to

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look at the structures within the back

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of the eye within the retina within the

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optic nerve

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and look for the structural changes and

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detect them much much earlier than we

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would otherwise what kind of changes can

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you see with this what i guess what

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would we look for at the back of the eye

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well if i can demonstrate with the model

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of the eye here right

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here we have the front of the eye known

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as the cornea and if

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i show you a cross section through the

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eye here we have again the cornea we

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have the internal lining of the eye

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known as the retina

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all the nerve fiber layers and the

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retina come together that form the optic

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disc

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which leads to the optic nerve which is

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an extension of the brain

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and what we're seeing in our crew

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members are

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wrinkles or folds to the inner lining

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the retina

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to the layer known as the choroid behind

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the retina we're seeing folds in this

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region as well and we're also seeing

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swelling of the retina and of the optic

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disc again also known as the optic nerve

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and so this is a machine that can that

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allows you to see those things while the

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crew is still on orbit right that is

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correct it allows us to detect very

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subtle changes within just a few microns

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of change from what we measure

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preflight so we can detect these changes

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much much sooner and have a better way

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of monitoring these changes over time

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and giving us a better understanding for

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the mechanisms for these changes

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is this something uh like an exam that

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people here on earth would be taking

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normally as part of their eye exams it's

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something that's becoming a very

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valuable diagnostic tool and and your uh

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ophthalmology clinic it's used for

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detecting and monitoring such diseases

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as glaucoma

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uh other optic nerve diseases as well

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and for looking at changes within the

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macula

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forms of retinal diseases okay so so

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this should be at least familiar to some

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people here on the ground already yeah i

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would think so okay but probably the

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first time that we had one in space i'm

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guessing how i know we've been doing

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these for a little while now so are you

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starting to get good results back

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helpful helpful data yes the crew has

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been amazing we have with the very

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little training that they get they've

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done an excellent job performing oct

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on orbit and we're we're getting some

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useful data it's very limited data at

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this point but we are getting some

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useful data showing uh

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some of the structural changes to the

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eye as a result of microgravity exposure

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are you getting in uh are you

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able to come up with any insight into

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exactly what's happening

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at this point we really don't know the

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the data is fairly limited although

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there's some theories that have been uh

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suggested one being that

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the swelling of the optic nerve and

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these changes to the to the retina as

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well as flattening of the back of the

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eye of the globe

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may be a result of elevated pressure

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behind the eye within the optic nerve

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sheath

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so i'll localize

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pressure changes due to fluid shifts

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which are experienced in microgravity uh

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also another theory is that uh

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there may be elevated intracranial

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pressure within the brain that may be

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responsible some of the for some of

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these changes there's a condition

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terrestrially known as idiopathic

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intracranial hypertension which

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has its similarities that we see in the

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space flight syndrome yet there are some

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differences as well and in that

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particular condition we see

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swelling of the optic nerve uh what we

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call papilloedema we see

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extension of the optic nerve sheath

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flattening of the globe

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and typically terrestrially that disease

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as a result of elevated intracranial

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pressure so there are some similarities

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yet differences

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from that particular disease okay and i

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guess does this machine help us narrow

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down the possibilities of what's going

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on or is it just help us

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understand what's going on

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i think both it's going to help us

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understand the structural changes that

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we're seeing and

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hopefully help us determine the

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mechanisms for these changes

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again whether it be localized effects or

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maybe elevated intracranial pressure

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but it's also a very useful clinical

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tool for

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for diagnosing these these changes and

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monitoring these changes over time okay

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all right i think now we're going to get

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a demonstration right

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we'll do it okay great all you have to

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do is you're going to see a bunch of

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blue lines just focus on the

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okay you can sit back

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all right

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here's a video of your eye brandi

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if you look up here close enough you'll

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be able to

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can you see moving in the blood vessel

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those are your blood cells okay forcing

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through the vessel

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it's kind of hard to see but if you look

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you can see it

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so i haven't been to space obviously so

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i wouldn't have anything that you

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probably are looking for i'm guessing or

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is there not actually what we're more

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interested in with videos looking at the

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the uh what we call spontaneous venus

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pulsations 80 of the population has a

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spontaneous venus pulsation

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uh

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and you have one yourself you have a

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nice pulse hitting

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central vein right here if you look real

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close you can see it pulsating

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again 80 of the population has that

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that's that's considered normal okay uh

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if you have a spontaneous venous

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pulsation however and all of a sudden

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disappears that's not normal it could be

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indicative of elevated pressure

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behind the eye or even elevated pressure

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within the within the brain okay

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well thank you so much for for showing

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us this and giving us the demonstration

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it's very interesting and i i think

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i think it helps us understand a whole

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lot better what the crew is doing on

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orbit to find out more about their own

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eyes so

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really appreciate it again this was bob

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gibson talking with us inside the flight

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medicine optometry clinic at the johnson