Katona, Melinda

Nyúl, László G.

Katona Melinda

Nyúl László G.

University of Szeged

Quantitative Assessment of Retinal Layer Distortions andSubretinal Fluid in SD-OCT ImagesMelinda Katona, László G. NyúlA modern tool for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) investigation is Optical Coher-ence Tomograph (OCT) that can produce high resolution cross-sectional images about retinallayers. AMD is one of the most frequent reasons of blindness in economically advanced coun-tries. AMD means the degeneration of macula which is responsible for central vision. SinceAMD affects only this area of the retina, unattended patients lose their fine shape-, and facerecognition, reading ability and central vision [1].The constant growing of AMD patient population is more and more challenging. Conse-quently, there is a need for more precise measurements and search for new OCT features forearlier and more efficient treatment. Quantitative assessment of retinal features in course ofAMD is not yet fully explored. Existing OCT systems are partially suited to monitoring theprogress of the disease. There are some typical symptoms of AMD that can be sensitive retreat-ment criteria. Digital image processing can help the quantitative assessment of the OCT fea-tures of AMD by providing automatic tools to detect abnormalities and to describe, by objectivemetrics, the current state and longitudinal changes during disease evolution and treatment.In this paper, we deal with automatic localization of subretinal fluid areas and also analyzeretinal layers, since layer information can help localizing fluid regions. Image quality is im-proved by a noise filtering and contrast enhancement method using fuzzy operator [2]. Thisoperator can highlight major retinal layers so we analyzed vertical profiles of the filtered imageand high intensity steps in pixel density are assumed to correspond to change of tissues. Wepresent an algorithm that automatically delineates seven retinal layers, successfully localizessubretinal fluid regions, and computes their extent and volume. We show our result using aset of SD-OCT images. The quantitative information can also be visualized in anatomical con-text for visual assessment. Our results were verified by ophthalmologists and they found thesegmentation, quantification and also the visualization technique useful.AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by the European Union and the State of Hungary, co-financed bythe European Social Fund in the framework of TÁMOP-4.2.2.D-15/1/KONV-2015-0024 ’Na-tional Excellence Program’. The authors are grateful to Dr. Rózsa Dégi and Dr. Attila Kovácsfor providing the OCT data sets and their medical expertise. The authors also thank Dr. JózsefDombi for suggesting the use of fuzzy operators for image preprocessing.References[1] M. R. Hee, C. R. Baumal, C. A. Puliato, J. S. Duker, E. Reichel, J. R. Wilkins, J. G. Coker, J. S.Schuman, E. A. Swanson, and J. G. Fujimoto, Optical coherence tomography of age-related mac-ular degeneration and choroidal neovascularization, Ophthalmology, vol. 103, no. 8, pp. 1260-1270, 1996.[2] J. Dombi, Modalities, Eurofuse 2011: Workshop on Fuzzy Methods for Knowledge-BasedSystems, pp. 53-65, 2012.37

Quantitative assessment of retinal layer distortions and subretinal fluid in SD-OCT images

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Quantitative assessment of retinal layer distortions and subretinal fluid in SD-OCT images

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