A FULLY AUTOMATED COMPARATIVE MICROANEURYSM DIGITAL DETECTION SYSTEM

A fully automated digital image processing system, which provides an o bjective and repeatable way to quantify microaneurysms in digitised fl uorescein angiograms, has been developed, The automated computer proce ssing includes registration of same-eye retinal images for serial stud ies, cutting of regions-of-interest centred on the fovea, the detectio n of microaneurysms and the comparison of serial images for microaneur ysm turnover, The microaneurysm detector was trained against a databas e of 68 images of patients with diabetes containing 394 true microaneu rysms, as identified by an ophthalmologist, The microaneurysm detector achieved 82% sensitivity with 2.0 false-positives per image. An indep endent test set, comprising 20 images containing 297 true microaneurys ms, was used to compare the microaneurysm detector with clinicians, Th e microaneurysm detector achieved a sensitivity of 82% for 5.7 false-p ositives per image, whereas the clinician receiver-operator-characteri stic (ROC) curve gives 3.2 false-positives per image at a sensitivity of 82%, It is concluded that the computer system can reliably detect m icroaneurysms, The advantages of the computer system include objectivi ty, repeatability, speed and full automation.