An Artificial-Intelligence-Based Automated Grading and Lesions Segmentation System for Myopic Maculopathy Based on Color Fundus Photographs.

PURPOSE: To develop deep learning models based on color fundus photographs that can automatically grade myopic maculopathy, diagnose pathologic myopia, and identify and segment myopia-related lesions.

METHODS

Photographs were graded and annotated by four ophthalmologists and were then divided into a high-consistency subgroup or a low-consistency subgroup according to the consistency between the results of the graders. ResNet-50 network was used to develop the classification model, and DeepLabv3+ network was used to develop the segmentation model for lesion identification. The two models were then combined to develop the classification-and-segmentation-based co-decision model.

RESULTS

This study included 1395 color fundus photographs from 895 patients. The grading accuracy of the co-decision model was 0.9370, and the quadratic-weighted κ coefficient was 0.9651; the co-decision model achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.9980 in diagnosing pathologic myopia. The photograph-level F1 values of the segmentation model identifying optic disc, peripapillary atrophy, diffuse atrophy, patchy atrophy, and macular atrophy were all >0.95; the pixel-level F1 values for segmenting optic disc and peripapillary atrophy were both >0.9; the pixel-level F1 values for segmenting diffuse atrophy, patchy atrophy, and macular atrophy were all >0.8; and the photograph-level recall/sensitivity for detecting lacquer cracks was 0.9230.

CONCLUSIONS

The models could accurately and automatically grade myopic maculopathy, diagnose pathologic myopia, and identify and monitor progression of the lesions.

TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: The models can potentially help with the diagnosis, screening, and follow-up for pathologic myopic in clinical practice.