Robust methodology for fractal analysis of the retinal vasculature

Che Azemin, Mohd Zulfaezal and Kumar, Dinesh Kant and Wong, Tien Y. and Kawasaki, Ryo and Mitchell, Paul and Wang, Jie Jin (2011) Robust methodology for fractal analysis of the retinal vasculature. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 30 (2). pp. 243-250. ISSN 0278-0062

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Abstract

We have developed a robust method to perform retinal vascular fractal analysis from digital retina images. The technique preprocesses the green channel retina images with Gabor wavelet transforms to enhance the retinal images. Fourier Fractal dimension is computed on these preprocessed images and does not require any segmentation of the vessels. This novel technique requires human input only at a single step; the allocation of the optic disk center. We have tested this technique on 380 retina images from healthy individuals aged 50+ years, randomly selected from the Blue Mountains Eye Study population. To assess its reliability in assessing retinal vascular fractals from different allocation of optic center, we performed pair-wise Pearson correlation between the fractal dimension estimates with 100 simulated region of interest for each of the 380 images. There was Gaussian distribution variation in the optic center allocation in each simulation. The resulting mean correlation coefficient (standard deviation) was 0.93 (0.005). The repeatability of this method was found to be better than the earlier box-counting method. Using this method to assess retinal vascular fractals, we have also confirmed a reduction in the retinal vasculature complexity with aging, consistent with observations from other human organ systems.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Additional Information:	6768/24911
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Blue mountains eye study, eye fundus, Fourier fractal dimension (FFD), Gabor wavelet
Subjects:	R Medicine > RE Ophthalmology
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences > Department of Optometry and Visual Science Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences
Depositing User:	Dr. Mohd Zulfaezal Che Azemin
Date Deposited:	11 Jan 2013 08:41
Last Modified:	30 Jun 2022 16:20
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/24911

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