CASDES: A Computer-Aided System to Support Dry Eye Diagnosis Based on Tear Film Maps

Abstract

Dry eye syndrome is recognized as a growing health problem, and one of the most frequent reasons for seeking eye care. Its etiology and management challenge clinicians and researchers alike, and several clinical tests can be used to diagnose it. One of the most frequently used tests is the evaluation of the interference patterns of the tear film lipid layer. Based on this clinical test, this paper presents CASDES, a computer-aided system to support the diagnosis of dry eye syndrome. Furthermore, CASDES is also useful to support the diagnosis of other eye diseases, such as meibomian gland dysfunction, since it provides a tear film map with highly useful information for eye practitioners. Experiments demonstrate the robustness of this novel tool, which outperforms the previous attempts to create tear film maps and provides reliable results in comparison with the clinicians' annotations. Note that the processing time is noticeably reduced with the proposed method, which will help to promote its clinical use in the diagnosis and treatment of dry eye.

A Comprehensive Survey on Image Modality based Computerized Dry Eye Disease Detection Techniques

“…When light is projected over cornea, a pattern is formed over lipid layer [3,[8][9]. This pattern is captured using instrument called Tearscope Plus [23][24]. As shown in Figure 5, it looks like a grid on lipid layer.…”

“…Two techniques have been proposed under this category. They are a Computer Aided System to Support Dry Eye Diagnosis based on tear film maps (CASDES) [23] and iDEAS [24]. Input to both these techniques is image captured using tearscope plus device.…”

“…In [23], a computer aided system to support dry eye diagnosis based on tear film maps is proposed. It is an automatic system that takes input in the form of image.…”

“…In this paper, we summarize them along with corresponding clinical tests. Based on our study, we classify the techniques into following three major categories subject to the approach used to identify the dry eye disease: 1) Techniques based on tear film stability [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25], 2) Techniques based on blink rate detection [26] and 3) Techniques based on amount of tear produced [27]. DED detection techniques based on tear film stability further differ from each other with respect to imaging modality.…”

“…DED detection techniques based on tear film stability further differ from each other with respect to imaging modality. Hence, based on imaging modality used, we further classify them into three subcategories: techniques using fluorescein tear film video [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], techniques using lipid layer interference patterns [23][24] and techniques using thermal infrared images [25]. From our rigorous study on DED detection techniques, we have identified several parameters to evaluate them.…”