title: Local characterization of neovascularization and identification of proliferative diabetic retinopathy in retinal fundus images.
abstract: Neovascularization (NV) is a characteristic of the onset of sight-threatening stage of DR, called proliferative DR (PDR). Identification of PDR requires modeling of these unregulated ill-formed vessels, and other associated signs of PDR. We present an approach that models the micro-pattern of local variations (using texture based analysis) and quantifies structural changes in vessel patterns in localized patches, to arrive at a score of neovascularity. The distribution of patch-level confidence scores is collated into an image-level decision of presence or absence of PDR. Evaluated on a dataset of 779 images combining public data and clinical data from local hospitals, the patch-level neovascularity prediction has a sensitivity of 92.4% at 92.6% specificity. For image-level PDR identification our method is shown to achieve sensitivity of 83.3% at a high specificity operating point of 96.1% specificity, and specificity of 83% at high sensitivity operating point of 92.2% sensitivity. Our approach could have potential application in DR grading where it can localize NVE regions and identify PDR images for immediate intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, India. Electronic address: ee12s055@ee.iitm.ac.in.
authors.forename: Garima
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre, IIT Madras, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kulasekaran
authors.affiliation: Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre, IIT Madras, India. Electronic address: keerthi@htic.iitm.ac.in.
authors.forename: Keerthi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ram
authors.affiliation: Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre, IIT Madras, India. Electronic address: jniranjan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Niranjan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, India; Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre, IIT Madras, India. Electronic address: mohan@ee.iitm.ac.in.
authors.forename: Mohanasankar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sivaprakasam
authors.affiliation: Beyond Eye Care, India.
authors.forename: Rashmin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gandhi
mesh_terms: D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Classification; Computer-assisted screening; Evaluation; Texture