Evaluation of optic nerve head (ONH) structure is a commonly used clinical technique for both diagnosis and monitoring of glaucoma. Glaucoma is associated with characteristic changes in the structure of the ONH. We present a method for computationally identifying ONH structural features using both imaging and genetic data from a large cohort of participants at risk for primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). Using 1054 participants from the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study, ONH structure was measured by application of a stereo correspondence algorithm to stereo fundus images. In addition, the genotypes of several known POAG genetic risk factors were considered for each participant. ONH structural features were discovered using both a principal component analysis approach to identify the major modes of variance within structural measurements and a linear discriminant analysis approach to capture the relationship between genetic risk factors and ONH structure. The identified ONH structural features were evaluated based on the strength of their associations with genotype and development of POAG by the end of the OHTS study. ONH structural features with strong associations with genotype were identified for each of the genetic loci considered. Several identified ONH structural features were significantly associated (p < 0.05) with the development of POAG after Bonferroni correction. Further, incorporation of genetic risk status was found to substantially increase performance of early POAG prediction. These results suggest incorporating both imaging and genetic data into ONH structural modeling significantly improves the ability to explain POAG-related changes to ONH structure.
Bifurcations of retinal vessels in fundus images are important structures clinically and their detection is also an
important component in image processing algorithms such as registration, segmentation and change detection.
In this paper, we develop a method for direct bifurcation detection based on the optimal filter framework. This
approach first generates a set of filters to represent all cases of bifurcations, and then uses them to generate a
feature space for a classifier to distinguish bifurcations and non-bifurcations. This approach is different from
previous methods as it uses a minimal number of assumptions, essentially only requiring training images and
expert annotations of bifurcations. The method is trained on 60 fundus images and tested on 20 fundus images,
resulting in an AUC of 0.883, which compares well to a human expert.
Optic nerve head (ONH) structure is an important biological feature of the eye used by clinicians to diagnose and
monitor progression of diseases such as glaucoma. ONH structure is commonly examined using stereo fundus imaging
or optical coherence tomography. Stereo fundus imaging provides stereo views of the ONH that retain 3D information
useful for characterizing structure. In order to quantify 3D ONH structure, we applied a stereo correspondence algorithm to a set of stereo fundus images. Using these quantitative 3D ONH structure measurements, eigen structures were derived using principal component analysis from stereo images of 565 subjects from the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS). To evaluate the usefulness of the eigen structures, we explored associations with the demographic variables age, gender, and race. Using regression analysis, the eigen structures were found to have significant (p < 0.05) associations with both age and race after Bonferroni correction. In addition, classifiers were constructed to predict the demographic variables based solely on the eigen structures. These classifiers achieved an area under receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.62 in predicting a binary age variable, 0.52 in predicting gender, and 0.67 in predicting race. The use of objective, quantitative features or eigen structures can reveal hidden relationships between ONH structure and demographics. The use of these features could similarly allow specific aspects of ONH structure to be isolated and associated with the diagnosis of glaucoma, disease progression and outcomes, and genetic factors.
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