Automated detection of proliferative retinopathy in clinical practice

Autor(es)

Karperien, Audrey ; Jelinek, Herbert F. ; Leandro, Jorge J. G. ; Soares, Joao V. B. ; Cesar, Roberto M., Jr. ; Luckie, Alan

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: CLINICAL OPHTHALMOLOGY; v. 2, n. 1, p. 14-pg., 2008-01-01.

Resumo

Timely intervention for diabetic retinopathy (DR) lessens the possibility of blindness and can save considerable costs to health systems. To ensure that interventions are timely and effective requires methods of screening and monitoring pathological changes, including assessing outcomes. Fractal analysis, one method that has been studied for assessing DR, is potentially relevant in today's world of telemedicine because it provides objective indices from digital images of complex patterns such as are seen in retinal vasculature, which is affected in DR. We introduce here a protocol to distinguish between nonproliferative (NPDR) and proliferative (PDR) changes in retinal vasculature using a fractal analysis method known as local connected dimension (D-conn) analysis. The major finding is that compared to other fractal analysis methods, D-conn analysis better differentiates NPDR from PDR (p = 0.05). In addition, we are the first to show that fractal analysis can be used to differentiate between NPDR and PDR using automated vessel identification. Overall, our results suggest this protocol can complement existing methods by including an automated and objective measure obtainable at a lower level of expertise that experts can then use in screening for and monitoring DR. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 06/56128-1 - Modelagem por redes (grafos) e tecnicas de reconhecimento de padroes: estrutura, dinamica e aplicacoes.
• Beneficiário: João Vitor Baldini Soares
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Programa Capacitação - Treinamento Técnico
• Processo FAPESP: 05/00587-5 - Modelagem por redes (grafos) e técnicas de reconhecimento de padrões: estrutura, dinâmica e aplicações
• Beneficiário: Roberto Marcondes Cesar Junior
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Temático