title: Quantification of the changes in the openness of the major temporal arcade in retinal fundus images of preterm infants with plus disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We tested the hypothesis that the openness of the major temporal arcade (MTA) changes in the presence of plus disease, by quantification via parabolic modeling of the MTA, as well as measurement of an arcade angle for comparative analysis. Such analysis could assist in the detection and treatment of progressive retinopathy of prematurity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Digital image processing techniques were applied for the detection and modeling of the MTA via a graphical user interface (GUI) to quantify the openness of the MTA. An arcade angle measure, based on a previously proposed method, also was obtained via the GUI for comparative analysis. The statistical significance of the differences between the plus and no-plus cases for each parameter was analyzed using the P value. The area (Az) under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to assess the diagnostic performance of each feature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The temporal arcade angle measure and the openness parameter of the parabolic model were used to perform discrimination of plus versus no-plus cases. Using a set of 19 cases with plus and 91 with no plus disease, Az=0.70 was obtained using the results of dual-parabolic modeling in screening for plus disease. The arcade angle measure provided comparable results with Az=0.73.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using our proposed image analysis techniques and software, this study demonstrates, for the first time to our knowledge, that the openness of the MTA decreases in the presence of plus disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Faraz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oloumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Rangaraj M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Rangayyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Division of Ophthalmology, Department of Surgery, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Anna L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Ells
mesh_terms: D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D012178:Retinopathy of Prematurity / Q000175:diagnosis*
keywords: computer-aided diagnosis; digital image analysis; major temporal arcade; plus disease; retinopathy of prematurity