Neuropathy Classification of Corneal Nerve Images Using Artificial Intelligence

Nerve variations in the human cornea have been associated with alterations in the neuropathy state of a patient suffering from chronic diseases. For some diseases, such as diabetes, detection of neuropathy prior to visible symptoms is important, whereas for others, such as multiple sclerosis, early prediction of disease worsening is crucial. As current methods fail to provide early diagnosis of neuropathy, in vivo corneal confocal microscopy enables very early insight into the nerve damage by illuminating and magnifying the human cornea. This non-invasive method captures a sequence of images from the corneal sub-basal nerve plexus. Current practices of manual nerve tracing and classification impede the advancement of medical research in this domain. Since corneal nerve analysis for neuropathy is in its initial stages, there is a dire need for process automation. To address this limitation, we seek to automate the two stages of this process: nerve segmentation and neuropathy classification of images. For nerve segmentation, we compare the performance of two existing solutions on multiple datasets to select the appropriate method and proceed to the classification stage. Consequently, we approach neuropathy classification of the images through artificial intelligence using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System, Support Vector Machines, Naïve Bayes and k-nearest neighbors. We further compare the performance of machine learning classifiers with deep learning. We ascertained that nerve segmentation using convolutional neural networks provided a significant improvement in sensitivity and false negative rate by at least 5% over the state-of-the-art software. For classification, ANFIS yielded the best classification accuracy of 93.7% compared to other classifiers. Furthermore, for this problem, machine learning approaches performed better in terms of classification accuracy than deep learning

Deep Residual Transfer Learning for Automatic Diabetic Retinopathy Grading.

Evaluation and diagnosis of retina pathology is usually made via the analysis of different image modalities that allow to explore its structure. The most popular retina image method is retinography, a technique that displays the fundus of the eye, including the retina and other structures. Retinography is the most common imaging method to diagnose retina diseases such as Diabetic Retinopathy (DB) or Macular Edema (ME). However, retinography evaluation to score the image according to the disease grade presents difficulties due to differences in contrast, brightness and the presence of artifacts. Therefore, it is mainly done via manual analysis; a time consuming task that requires a trained clinician to examine and evaluate the images. In this paper, we present a computer aided diagnosis tool that takes advantage of the performance provided by deep learning architectures for image analysis. Our proposal is based on a deep residual convolutional neural network for extracting discriminatory features with no prior complex image transformations to enhance the image quality or to highlight specific structures. Moreover, we used the transfer learning paradigm to reuse layers from deep neural networks previously trained on the ImageNet dataset, under the hypothesis that first layers capture abstract features than can be reused for different problems. Experiments using different convolutional architectures have been carried out and their performance has been evaluated on the MESSIDOR database using cross-validation. Best results were found using a ResNet50-based architecture, showing an AUC of 0.93 for grades 0 + 1, AUC of 0.81 for grade 2 and AUC of 0.92 for grade 3 labelling, as well as AUCs higher than 0.97 when considering a binary classification problem (grades 0 vs 3).This work was partly supported by the MINECO/FEDER under TEC2015-64718-R, RTI2018-098913-B-I00, PSI2015-65848-R and PGC2018-098813-B-C32 projects. We gratefully acknowledge the support of NVIDIA Cor poration with the donation of one of the GPUs used for this research. Work by F.J.M.M. was supported by the MICINN “Juan de la Cierva - Formacion” Fellowship

Detection and Classification of Diabetic Retinopathy using Deep Learning Algorithms for Segmentation to Facilitate Referral Recommendation for Test and Treatment Prediction

This research paper addresses the critical challenge of diabetic retinopathy (DR), a severe complication of diabetes leading to potential blindness. The proposed methodology leverages transfer learning with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for automatic DR detection using a single fundus photograph, demonstrating high effectiveness with a quadratic weighted kappa score of 0.92546 in the APTOS 2019 Blindness Detection Competition. The paper reviews existing literature on DR detection, spanning classical computer vision methods to deep learning approaches, particularly focusing on CNNs. It identifies gaps in the research, emphasizing the lack of exploration in integrating pretrained large language models with segmented image inputs for generating recommendations and understanding dynamic interactions within a web application context.Objectives include developing a comprehensive DR detection methodology, exploring model integration, evaluating performance through competition ranking, contributing significantly to DR detection methodologies, and identifying research gaps.The methodology involves data preprocessing, data augmentation, and the use of a U-Net neural network architecture for segmentation. The U-Net model efficiently segments retinal structures, including blood vessels, hard and soft exudates, haemorrhages, microaneurysms, and the optical disc. High evaluation scores in Jaccard, F1, recall, precision, and accuracy underscore the model's potential for enhancing diagnostic capabilities in retinal pathology assessment.The outcomes of this research hold promise for improving patient outcomes through timely diagnosis and intervention in the fight against diabetic retinopathy, marking a significant contribution to the field of medical image analysis

Accuracy of Deep Learning Algorithms for the Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity by Fundus Images: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) occurs in preterm infants and may contribute to blindness. Deep learning (DL) models have been used for ophthalmologic diagnoses. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published evidence to summarize and evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of DL algorithms for ROP by fundus images. Methods. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Xplore Digital Library on June 13, 2021, for studies using a DL algorithm to distinguish individuals with ROP of different grades, which provided accuracy measurements. ,e pooled sensitivity and specificity values and the area under the curve (AUC) of summary receiver operating characteristics curves (SROC) summarized overall test performance. ,e performances in validation and test datasets were assessed together and separately. Subgroup analyses were conducted between the definition and grades of ROP. ,reshold and nonthreshold effects were tested to assess biases and evaluate accuracy factors associated with DL models. Results. Nine studies with fifteen classifiers were included in our meta-analysis. A total of 521,586 objects were applied to DL models. For combined validation and test datasets in each study, the pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.953 (95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.946–0.959) and 0.975 (0.973–0.977), respectively, and the AUC was 0.984 (0.978–0.989). For the validation dataset and test dataset, the AUC was 0.977 (0.968–0.986) and 0.987 (0.982–0.992), respectively. In the subgroup analysis of ROP vs. normal and differentiation of two ROP grades, the AUC was 0.990 (0.944–0.994) and 0.982 (0.964–0.999), respectively. Conclusions. Our study shows that DL models can play an essential role in detecting and grading ROP with high sensitivity, specificity, and repeatability. ,e application of a DL-based automated system may improve ROP screening and diagnosis in the future

Artificial intelligence methodologies and their application to diabetes

In the past decade diabetes management has been transformed by the addition of continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pump data. More recently, a wide variety of functions and physiologic variables, such as heart rate, hours of sleep, number of steps walked and movement, have been available through wristbands or watches. New data, hydration, geolocation, and barometric pressure, among others, will be incorporated in the future. All these parameters, when analyzed, can be helpful for patients and doctors' decision support. Similar new scenarios have appeared in most medical fields, in such a way that in recent years, there has been an increased interest in the development and application of the methods of artificial intelligence (AI) to decision support and knowledge acquisition. Multidisciplinary research teams integrated by computer engineers and doctors are more and more frequent, mirroring the need of cooperation in this new topic. AI, as a science, can be defined as the ability to make computers do things that would require intelligence if done by humans. Increasingly, diabetes-related journals have been incorporating publications focused on AI tools applied to diabetes. In summary, diabetes management scenarios have suffered a deep transformation that forces diabetologists to incorporate skills from new areas. This recently needed knowledge includes AI tools, which have become part of the diabetes health care. The aim of this article is to explain in an easy and plane way the most used AI methodologies to promote the implication of health care providers?doctors and nurses?in this field

A foundation model for generalizable disease detection from retinal images

Medical artificial intelligence (AI) offers great potential for recognizing signs of health conditions in retinal images and expediting the diagnosis of eye diseases and systemic disorders1. However, the development of AI models requires substantial annotation and models are usually task-specific with limited generalizability to different clinical applications2. Here, we present RETFound, a foundation model for retinal images that learns generalizable representations from unlabelled retinal images and provides a basis for label-efficient model adaptation in several applications. Specifically, RETFound is trained on 1.6 million unlabelled retinal images by means of self-supervised learning and then adapted to disease detection tasks with explicit labels. We show that adapted RETFound consistently outperforms several comparison models in the diagnosis and prognosis of sight-threatening eye diseases, as well as incident prediction of complex systemic disorders such as heart failure and myocardial infarction with fewer labelled data. RETFound provides a generalizable solution to improve model performance and alleviate the annotation workload of experts to enable broad clinical AI applications from retinal imaging