PhD Biomedical Engineering Data Analysis and Modelisation

‘’Healthcare related to data sciencead’’

Author:
Fco. Yoel García

01th April, 2019

 OUTLINE

- Objectives
- Research SOTA
- Hypothesys
-Methodology
-Conclusions
 OBJETIVES

There are several key objectives that will be accomplished during this research program, including:

• Perform an in-depth literature review on the area of deep leaning image analysis and its application to
medical imaging.

• Develop methods for image segmentation of the front of the eye in OCT imaging.

• Develop methods that can be adaptive to different image conditions, including the presence of a contact
lens and the location of the scanning (corneal scan versus scleral scan).

• Develop methods for image registration based of GANs methodology, evaluate those methods against
“non-machine learning” techniques.

• Implement the tool into an open access program to maximize its research impact and clinical translation.
RESEARCH SOTA: A WORLDWIDE CONCERNING PROBLEM

Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness worldwide – 12,3%

In developed countries 50% of glaucoma patients are not even aware of having it

Main risk factors: Age, black race and genetic predisposition.

World Health Organization (WHO) and Glaucoma World Association, 2016 - https://www.cignaglobalhealth.com
 RESEARCH SOTA: THE DISEASE: GLAUCOMA

Glaucoma is a multifactorial, progressive and degenerative optic neuropathy,

characterized by the death of retinal ganglions cells (RGC) and their axons

RGC death leads to changes in the optic

nerve head (ONH) and gradual visual
field loss

Glaucoma pathophysiology is not

completely understood. However,
its pathogenesis is commonly
explained by two theories:
Mechanical and vascular
approaches

F. Terrés de Ercilla, (2004)

 RESEARCH SOTA: DIAGNOSIS OF GLAUCOMA

Since glaucoma pathophysiology is not well understood and it eventually produces blindness, its early diagnosis is one of
the challenges of the medical community.
Actually, the disease is evaluated by many different tests:
• Onometry (IOP)

• Achymetry (central corneal thickness)

• Gonioscopy (drainage)

• Erimetry (visual field)

• ONH assessment (medical imaging)

• non-invasive
OPTICAL COHERENCE
• fast
TOMOGRAPHY (OCT)
• high-resolution visualization of in vivo ocular microstructures.
RESEARCH SOTA: MARKET RESEARCH - DATA

• The optical imaging market is expected to be approximately 1.9 billion USD worth
it by the end of 2018 and around 3.0 billion USD by the end of 2024.

• Developed countries (North America and Europe) dominate the market with a
79.3% of the share

• If the optical imaging market is studied per categories: OCT is the leader technique
in the sector – 79.6%

• The number of people suffering from glaucoma is estimated around 80 million by

2020 and 111.8 million by 2040

• Cost estimations have defined an approximate budget of the takeoff of this project:
133.000€
 HYPOTHESYS

Hypothesys

PhD in the research areas of computer science, artificial intelligence and biomedical engineering related to
the development of methods to process medical images of the human eye.

I plan to focus my research on the use of machine learning methods for the analysis and quantification of
medical images of the human eye, with a particular focus on the anterior segment of the eye (front of the
eye [cornea and sclera]). These methods will include the development of segmentation routines to extract
anatomical layers and automatically annotate anatomical landmarks. I will also investigate how machine
learning image registration methods can be applied to track tissue changes in the anterior eye. This topic
will include sophisticated software development, with an overall aim to improve the quantification and
analysis of clinical images.
 METHODOLOGY

Methodology

In this research there will be two main areas of investigation.

• One area will focus on the development of machine learning methods that can segment the image
in the presence of different contact lenses or without contact lenses. Most of the current “non-AI”
methods tend to be developed for a particular image and will fail if a different image is run through
the method. Machine learning offers the opportunity to deal (learn) with images under different
conditions. The method will focus on the segmentation of the corneal and scleral layer, as well as
the boundaries of the contact lens, if the lens is on eye.

• The second area will be the development of Generative adversarial networks (GAN) for image
registration [6,7]. GAN are a special type of neural network model where two networks are trained
simultaneously, with one focused on image generation and the other centred on discrimination. It
provides a way to learn deep representations without extensively annotated training data. These
networks can be adapted to register medical data (track tissue changes between images taken of
the same section of the tissue). This method has significant potential to track tissue changes
induced by contact lenses over time [8].
 CONCLUSIONS

The suggested strategy to make this product take off as an innovation is to create a spin-off within the
research center it was born at. This way, costs would be quite reduced and effectiveness improved: Closeness
to hospital facilities and personnel participating in this project (doctor, optician, patients…)
PhD Biomedical Engineering Data Analysis and Modelisation

‘’Healthcare related to data sciencead’’

Author:
Fco. Yoel García

01th April, 2019