Lu Bingwen, Li Yiming, Xie Like, Chiu Kin, Hao Xiaofeng, Xu Jing, Luo Jie, Sham Pak-Chung
Department of Ophthalmology, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Department of Ophthalmology, Eye Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100040, China.
Biomedicines. 2024 Apr 15;12(4):868. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines12040868.
Retinal structural and functional changes in humans can be manifestations of different physiological or pathological conditions. Retinal imaging is the only way to directly inspect blood vessels and their pathological changes throughout the whole body non-invasively. Various quantitative analysis metrics have been used to measure the abnormalities of retinal microvasculature in the context of different retinal, cerebral and systemic disorders. Recently developed optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a non-invasive imaging tool that allows high-resolution three-dimensional mapping of the retinal microvasculature. The identification of retinal biomarkers from OCTA images could facilitate clinical investigation in various scenarios. We provide a framework for extracting computational retinal microvasculature biomarkers (CRMBs) from OCTA images through a knowledge-driven computerized automatic analytical system. Our method allows for improved identification of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) and introduces a novel definition of vessel dispersion in the macular region. Furthermore, retinal large vessels and capillaries of the superficial and deep plexus can be differentiated, correlating with retinal pathology. The diagnostic value of OCTA CRMBs was demonstrated by a cross-sectional study with 30 healthy subjects and 43 retinal vein occlusion (RVO) patients, which identified strong correlations between OCTA CRMBs and retinal function in RVO patients. These OCTA CRMBs generated through this "all-in-one" pipeline may provide clinicians with insights about disease severity, treatment response and prognosis, aiding in the management and early detection of various disorders.
人类视网膜的结构和功能变化可能是不同生理或病理状况的表现。视网膜成像是非侵入性地直接检查全身血管及其病理变化的唯一方法。在不同的视网膜、脑和全身疾病背景下，各种定量分析指标已被用于测量视网膜微血管的异常情况。最近开发的光学相干断层扫描血管造影（OCTA）是一种非侵入性成像工具，可对视网膜微血管进行高分辨率三维成像。从OCTA图像中识别视网膜生物标志物有助于在各种情况下进行临床研究。我们提供了一个通过知识驱动的计算机自动分析系统从OCTA图像中提取计算性视网膜微血管生物标志物（CRMBs）的框架。我们的方法能够更好地识别黄斑无血管区（FAZ），并引入了黄斑区血管离散度的新定义。此外，视网膜大血管以及浅层和深层丛状层的毛细血管能够被区分开来，这与视网膜病理相关。一项对30名健康受试者和43名视网膜静脉阻塞（RVO）患者的横断面研究证明了OCTA CRMBs的诊断价值，该研究确定了OCTA CRMBs与RVO患者视网膜功能之间的强相关性。通过这种“一体化”流程生成的这些OCTA CRMBs可能会为临床医生提供有关疾病严重程度、治疗反应和预后的见解，有助于各种疾病的管理和早期检测。
