KeratoScreen: Early Keratoconus Classification With Zernike Polynomial Using Deep Learning

Abstract

Purpose:We aimed to investigate the usefulness of Zernike coefficients (ZCs) for distinguishing subclinical keratoconus (KC) from normal corneas and to evaluate the goodness of detection of the entire corneal topography and tomography characteristics with ZCs as a screening feature input set of artificial neural networks.Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at the Affiliated Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, China. A total of 208 patients (1040 corneal topography images) were evaluated. Data were collected between 2012 and 2018 using the Pentacam system and analyzed from February 2019 to December 2021. An artificial neural network (KeratoScreen) was trained using a data set of ZCs generated from corneal topography and tomography. Each image was previously assigned to 3 groups: normal (70 eyes; average age, 28.7 6 2.6 years), subclinical KC (48 eyes; average age, 24.6 6 5.7 years), and KC (90 eyes; average age, 25.9 6 5.4 years). The data set was randomly split into 70% for training and 30% for testing. We evaluated the precision of screening symptoms and examined the discriminative capability of several combinations of the input set and nodes. Results:The best results were achieved using ZCs generated from corneal thickness as an input parameter, determining the 3 categories of clinical classification for each subject. The sensitivity and precision rates were 93.9% and 96.1% in subclinical KC cases and 97.6% and 95.1% in KC cases, respectively.Conclusions: Deep learning algorithms based on ZCs could be used to screen for early KC and for other corneal ectasia during preoperative screening for corneal refractive surgery.

Deep Learning Models Used in the Diagnostic Workup of Keratoconus: A Systematic Review and Exploratory Meta-Analysis

“…Furthermore, a public data set enables DL scientists worldwide to test new techniques to advance the accuracy of predictive analytics. Finally, it will be important to update the systematic review including newly published evidence [32][33][34][35][36][37] to capture progress in model development and to monitor reporting quality and guideline adherence.…”