title: Utilization of mathematical processing of retinal images with use of adaptive contrast control (ACC) method to detect quantity of vascular endings.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors investigated whether the method of mathematical processing of retinal images with the use of a computer can be used to evaluate ocular background figures of patients with physiologic retinal findings. This method is based on identification of vascular endings in an examined retinal area. When the authors mention vascular endings, they do not refer to factual endings, but recognizable vascular endings; there are no endings in a vascular system.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adaptive contrast control (ACC) method was used to determine a number of vascular endings. The method is based on mathematical processing of a digitized retina picture with the use of a computer. On a digitized retinal picture, the vascular system is identified with the use of the conditional erosion methodology, and the number of vascular endings is then determined. The ACC method was used to process a file of retinal pictures of 38 patients (76 eyes) with physiologic retinal findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on the results of statistical analysis, the authors detected that the number of vascular endings showed a normal curve (Gaussian distribution, p=0.05). A tight correlation between quantities of vascular endings in the right and the left eyes was also detected, which means that the quantity of vascular endings in the right and the left eyes is in a very close correlation (p=0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The authors highlight that the curve of the number of vascular endings of patients with physiologic retinal findings shows a Gaussian distribution.
authors.affiliation: Eye Clinic of University Hospital Brno, Masaryk University Brno, Brno, Czech Republic. pekolar@quick.cz
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kolar
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Starha
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vlkova
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008432:Mathematical Computing; D008875:Middle Aged; D016011:Normal Distribution; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*