Technology commonly used in adults is now being used to help premature infants at Duke University Medical Center fight a devastating problem that can cause permanent vision problems, even blindness.

Infants like tiny Avery Chambers, who was born 16 weeks early, are at high risk for a condition known as retinopathy of prematurity, where abnormal blood vessel growth can pull the retina out of position.

"We have excellent screening and methods of preventing children from going on to retinal detachment," said Dr. Cynthia Toth, an ophthalmologic surgeon at Duke Eye Center. "But children that do go on to retinal detachment can often end up with very poor vision outcomes."

Toth is part of a research team looking at a new way to examine the eyes of newborns using optical coherence technology, or OCT. Commonly used in adults, it has been difficult to use routinely in preemies because they had to go to the operating room to access the technology.

"They can't sit with their chin in a chinrest and their head held fixed and steady for us to examine," said Toth.

But new technology developed at Duke is allowing doctors to bring OCT to the intensive care nursery and the bedside of infants like Avery. Toth uses a handheld device to get a 3D scan of his eyes and look for tiny abnormalities that might not be seen through a routine eye exam.

"In some children, we'll see very large areas of thickening of the retina, cysts bubbles, fluid lifting up," said Toth. "What we don't know yet is whether some of these just normal variations that children have in the nursery and they might grow out of it."

Toth said they have learned that the retina takes about nine months to develop. So in Avery's case, the scan is a way to confirm that his eyes are growing the way they should.

"It's non invasive, so I support any research on preemies that is non invasive," said Stacie Chambers, Avery's mom. "Especially a preemie as early as he is, 24 weeks."

Toth and her team hope their research will determine whether indepth scans like these should be a routine part of care for preemies in the future.