Enhancing Image Characteristics of Retinal Images of Aggressive Posterior Retinopathy of Prematurity Using a Novel Software, (RetiView).

Purpose. To report pilot data from a novel image analysis software “RetiView,” to highlight clinically relevant information in RetCam images of infants with aggressive posterior retinopathy of prematurity (APROP). Methods. Twenty-three imaging sessions of consecutive infants of Asian Indian origin with clinically diagnosed APROP underwent three protocols (Grey Enhanced (GE), Color Enhanced (CE), and “Vesselness Measure” (VNM)) of the software. The postprocessed images were compared to baseline data from the archived unprocessed images and clinical exam by the retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) specialist for anterior extent of the vessels, capillary nonperfusion zones (CNP), loops, hemorrhages, and flat neovascularization. Results. There was better visualization of tortuous loops in the GE protocol (56.5%); “bald” zones within the CNP zones (26.1%), hemorrhages (13%), and edge of the disease (34.8%) in the CE images; neovascularization on both GE and CE protocols (13% each); clinically relevant information in cases with poor pupillary dilatation (8.7%); anterior extent of vessels on the VNM protocol (13%) effecting a “reclassification” from zone 1 to zone 2 posterior. Conclusions. RetiView is a noninvasive and inexpensive method of customized image enhancement to detect clinically difficult characteristics in a subset of APROP images with a potential to influence treatment planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of BioMed Research International is the property of Hindawi Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)