Ocular Axial Length Prediction Based on Visual Interpretation of Retinal Fundus Images via Deep Neural Network

Ocular axial length (AL) is an important property of eyes used for determining their health prior to surgery. Estimation of AL is also crucial while making artificial lenses to replace impaired natural lenses. However, accurate measurement of AL requires a costly and bulky benchtop optical system. The complex structural features of eyes can be captured by fundus images, which can he easily captured nowadays with portable cameras. Here, we suggest a deep learning method for predicting AL based on fundus images with evidence of decision. This visual interpretation of predictions is achieved by post-processing, separated from the training process, to ensure that the architecture can be freely designed. Through the visualization technique, discriminative regions on input images can be localized to demonstrate specific areas of interest for predictions. In the experiments, we found a significant relationship between the fundus images and AL with achieving a coefficient of determination (R-2) of 0.67 and accuracy of 90%, within an error margin of +/- 1 mm. Furthermore, visual evidence proves that the network uses consistent regions for predicting AL. The visual results of this study also point to a link between AL and biological structure of eyes, which paves the way for future research.

Automated summary

Ocular axial length (AL) is crucial for eye health and surgery preparation, and a deep learning method using fundus images to predict AL has shown high accuracy in experiments. By visualizing discriminative regions on input images, the study paves the way for future research by linking AL to the biological structure of eyes.