Intelligent Diagnosis and Classification of Keratitis

A corneal ulcer is an open sore that forms on the cornea; it is usually caused by an infection or injury and can result in ocular morbidity. Early detection and discrimination between different ulcer diseases reduces the chances of visual disability. Traditional clinical methods that use slit-lamp images can be tiresome, expensive, and time-consuming. Instead, this paper proposes a deep learning approach to diagnose corneal ulcers, enabling better, improved treatment. This paper suggests two modes to classify corneal images using manual and automatic deep learning feature extraction. Different dimensionality reduction techniques are utilized to uncover the most significant features that give the best results. Experimental results show that manual and automatic feature extraction techniques succeeded in discriminating ulcers from a general grading perspective, with similar to 93% accuracy using the 30 most significant features extracted using various dimensionality reduction techniques. On the other hand, automatic deep learning feature extraction discriminated severity grading with a higher accuracy than type grading regardless of the number of features used. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to ever attempt to distinguish corneal ulcers based on their grade grading, type grading, ulcer shape, and distribution. Identifying corneal ulcers at an early stage is a preventive measure that reduces aggravation and helps track the efficacy of adapted medical treatment, improving the general public health in remote, underserved areas.

Automated summary

This study proposes a deep learning approach for diagnosing corneal ulcers, which has the potential to improve treatment outcomes. Experimental results demonstrate the successful discrimination of ulcers using both manual and automatic feature extraction techniques, with higher accuracy achieved for severity grading using automatic feature extraction. This research has important clinical implications and practical applications.