RAC-CNN: multimodal deep learning based automatic detection and classification of rod and cone photoreceptors in adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope images.

PubMed ID: 31452977

Author(s): Cunefare D, Huckenpahler AL, Patterson EJ, Dubra A, Carroll J, Farsiu S. RAC-CNN: multimodal deep learning based automatic detection and classification of rod and cone photoreceptors in adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope images. Biomed Opt Express. 2019 Jul 8;10(8):3815-3832. doi: 10.1364/BOE.10.003815. eCollection 2019 Aug 1. PMID 31452977

Journal: Biomedical Optics Express, Volume 10, Issue 8, Aug 2019

Quantification of the human rod and cone photoreceptor mosaic in adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) images is useful for the study of various retinal pathologies. Subjective and time-consuming manual grading has remained the gold standard for evaluating these images, with no well validated automatic methods for detecting individual rods having been developed. We present a novel deep learning based automatic method, called the rod and cone CNN (RAC-CNN), for detecting and classifying rods and cones in multimodal AOSLO images. We test our method on images from healthy subjects as well as subjects with achromatopsia over a range of retinal eccentricities. We show that our method is on par with human grading for detecting rods and cones.