Automated diabetic retinopathy imaging in Indian eyes: A pilot study

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of an automated retinal image grading system in diabetic retinopathy (DR) screening. Materials and Methods: Color fundus images of patients of a DR screening project were analyzed for the purpose of the study. For each eye two set of images were acquired, one centerd on the disk and the other centerd on the macula. All images were processed by automated DR screening software (Retmarker). The results were compared to ophthalmologist grading of the same set of photographs. Results: 5780 images of 1445 patients were analyzed. Patients were screened into two categories DR or no DR. Image quality was high, medium and low in 71 (4.91%), 1117 (77.30%) and 257 (17.78%) patients respectively. Specificity and sensitivity for detecting DR in the high, medium and low group were (0.59, 0.91); (0.11, 0.95) and (0.93, 0.14). Conclusion: Automated retinal image screening system for DR had a high sensitivity in high and medium quality images. Automated DR grading software's hold promise in future screening programs.