title: A method for corneal nerves automatic segmentation and morphometric analysis.
abstract: The segmentation and morphometric analysis of corneal sub-basal nerves, from corneal confocal microscopy images, has gained recently an increased interest. This interest arises from the possibility of using changes in these nerves as the basis of a simple and non-invasive method for early detection and follow-up of peripheral diabetic neuropathy, a major cause of chronic disability in diabetic patients. Here, we propose one method for automatic segmentation and analysis of corneal nerves from images obtained in vivo through corneal confocal microscopy. The method is capable of segmenting corneal nerves, with sensitivity near 90% and a percentage of false recognitions with an average of 5.3%. The nerves tortuosity was calculated and shows statistically significant differences between healthy controls and diabetic individuals, in accordance to what is reported in the literature.
authors.affiliation: IBILI-Institute of Biomedical Research in Light and Image, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, Celas, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal. alferreira@ibili.uc.pt
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: António Miguel
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Morgado
authors.forename: José Silvestre
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Silva
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003315:Cornea / Q000294:innervation*; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted