Abstract
PurposeRetinal oximetry is a technique based on spectrophotometry where images are analyzed with software capable of calculating vessel oxygen saturation and vessel diameter. In this study, the effect of automation of measurements of retinal vessel oxygen saturation and vessel diameter is explored.MethodsUntil now, operators have had to choose each vessel segment to be measured explicitly. A new, automatic version of the software automatically selects the vessels once the operator defines a measurement area. Five operators analyzed image pairs from the right eye of 23 healthy subjects with semiautomated retinal oximetry analysis software, Oxymap Analyzer (v2.5.1), and an automated version (v3.0). Inter- and intra-operator variability was investigated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between oxygen saturation measurements of vessel segments in the same area of the retina.ResultsFor semiautomated saturation measurements, the inter-rater ICC was 0.80 for arterioles and venules. For automated saturation measurements, the inter-rater ICC was 0.97 for arterioles and 0.96 for venules. For semiautomated diameter measurements, the inter-rater ICC was 0.71 for arterioles and venules. For automated diameter measurements the inter-rater ICC was 0.97 for arterioles and 0.95 for venules. The inter-rater ICCs were different (p < 0.01) between the semiautomated and automated version in all instances.ConclusionAutomated measurements of retinal oximetry values are more repeatable compared to measurements where vessels are selected manually.
Highlights
Fundus photographs are widely used to document various ocular diseases such as diabetic retinopathy [1], glaucoma [2], retinopathy of prematurity [3] and retinal vein occlusion [4]
Automated measurements of retinal oximetry values are more repeatable compared to measurements where vessels are selected manually
The retinal blood vessels are visible through the optics of the eye and can be imaged with a fundus camera
Summary
Fundus photographs are widely used to document various ocular diseases such as diabetic retinopathy [1], glaucoma [2], retinopathy of prematurity [3] and retinal vein occlusion [4]. Changes in retinal vessel oxygen saturation have been found in diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and other common diseases affecting the retina [5,6,7,8] as well as systemic and brain disease [9]. Measurements of retinal vessel oxygen saturation were first attempted in 1959 [10], and several groups have experimented with different approaches since (for review, see [11,12,13,14,15]). The two monochromatic images are processed by specialized software, Oxymap Analyzer
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