title: Quantitative depth analysis of optic nerve head using stereo retinal fundus image pair.
abstract: Depth analysis of the optic nerve head (ONH) in the retinal fundus is important for the early detection of glaucoma. In this study, we investigate an automatic reconstruction method for the quantitative depth measurement of the ONH from a stereo retinal fundus image pair. We propose a technique to obtain the depth value from the stereo retinal fundus image pair, which mainly consists of five steps: 1. cutout of the ONH region from the stereo retinal fundus image pair, 2. registration of the stereo image pair, 3. disparity measurement, 4. noise reduction, and 5. quantitative depth calculation. Depth measurements of 12 normal eyes are performed using the stereo fundus camera and the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT), which is a confocal laser-scanning microscope. The depth values of the ONH obtained from the stereo retinal fundus image pair were in good accordance with the value obtained using HRT (r=0.80+/-0.15). These results indicate that our proposed method could be a useful and easy-to-handle tool for assessing the cup depth of the ONH in routine diagnosis as well as in glaucoma screening.
authors.affiliation: Gifu University, Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, Gifu 501-1194, Japan. tsnakagw@kowa.co.jp
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Takayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mizukusa
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hatanaka
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods*; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000166:cytology*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods; D010780:Photogrammetry / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D042262:Retinoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D041622:Tomography, Optical / Q000379:methods*