A noninvasive technology that analyzes the eye’s tear film layer is being tested in Israel to determine if it performs as well as a PCR test.

AdOM Advanced Optical Technologies and Israel’s Sheba Medical Center have launched the world’s largest study for the detection of Covid-19 on the surface of the eye.

The study will compare AdOM’s Tear Film Imager (TFI) — a quick, noninvasive and inexpensive exam — to the PCR diagnostic test, the current standard.

A successful proof of concept study at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon already demonstrated high specificity and sensitivity of the TFI vs. PCR in Covid-19 patients.

The validation trial at Sheba – Israel’s largest medical center – will test the TFI on about 500 patients over the next 30 days.

In just 40 seconds, the TFI simultaneously measures the muco-aqueous and lipid sublayers of the eye’s tear film, at a resolution depth of a few nanometers. These sublayers play an important role in the identification and treatment of specific eye conditions such as dry eye syndrome.

The TFI is used in countries including the United States and Japan. It’s one of the only commercially available devices that can identify and quantify a virus within the surface of the eye.

“Our goal is to have hundreds of patients who are asymptomatic or symptomatic with Covid-19, irrespective of the variant and even those who have recovered, to see how the TFI device compares to the existing PCR standard of care,” said chief investigator Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, deputy director general and chief innovation officer at Sheba Medical Center’s ARC Innovation Center.