Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Imaging

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and artificial intelligence (AI) are two emerging fields that complement each other. OCTA enables the noninvasive, in vivo, 3D visualization of retinal blood flow with a micrometer resolution, which has been impossible with other imaging modalities. As it does not need dye-based injections, it is also a safer procedure for patients. AI has excited great interest in many fields of daily life, by enabling automatic processing of huge amounts of data with a performance that greatly surpasses previous algorithms. It has been used in many breakthrough studies in recent years, such as the finding that AlphaGo can beat humans in the strategic board game of Go. This paper will give a short introduction into both fields and will then explore the manifold applications of AI in OCTA imaging that have been presented in the recent years. These range from signal generation over signal enhancement to interpretation tasks like segmentation and classification. In all these areas, AI-based algorithms have achieved state-of-the-art performance that has the potential to improve standard care in ophthalmology when integrated into the daily clinical routine.

Zusammenfassung

Die optische Kohärenztomografie-Angiografie (OCTA) und die künstliche Intelligenz (KI) sind 2 aufstrebende Bereiche, die sich gegenseitig ergänzen. Die OCTA ermöglicht die nicht invasive In-vivo-3-D-Visualisierung des Blutflusses in der Netzhaut mit einer Auflösung im Mikrometerbereich, was mit anderen Bildgebungsmodalitäten bisher nicht möglich war. Da keine Farbstoffinjektionen erforderlich sind, ist das Verfahren auch für die Patienten sicherer. Die KI hat in vielen Bereichen des täglichen Lebens großes Interesse geweckt, da sie die automatische Verarbeitung großer Datenmengen ermöglicht und die Leistung bisheriger Algorithmen weit übertrifft. Sie wurde in den letzten Jahren in vielen bahnbrechenden Arbeiten eingesetzt, wie z. B. AlphaGo, das im strategische Brettspiel Go Menschen übertrifft. Dieser Beitrag wird eine kurze Einführung in diese beiden Themen geben und dann die vielfältigen Anwendungen von KI in der OCTA-Bildgebung beleuchten, die in den letzten Jahren vorgestellt wurden. Diese reichen von der Signalgenerierung über die Signalverbesserung bis hin zu Interpretationsaufgaben wie Segmentierung und Klassifikation. In all diesen Bereichen haben KI-basierte Algorithmen Spitzenleistungen erzielt, die das Potenzial haben, die Standardversorgung in der Augenheilkunde zu verbessern, wenn sie in die tägliche klinische Routine integriert werden.

Key words

OCTA - artificial intelligence - machine learning - deep learning

Schlüsselwörter

OCTA - künstliche Intelligenz - maschinelles Lernen - tiefes Lernen

Publication History

Received: 01 June 2022

Accepted: 25 September 2022

Article published online:
09 December 2022

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