A Hierarchical Deep Learning Architecture for Diagnosing Retinal Diseases Using Cross-Modal OCT to Fundus Translation in the Lack of Paired Data

Abstract

The paper focuses on automated diagnosis of retinal diseases, particularly Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR), using optical coherence tomography (OCT), while addressing three key challenges: disease comorbidity, severe class imbalance, and the lack of strictly paired OCT and fundus data. We propose a hierarchical modular deep learning system designed for multi-label OCT screening with conditional routing to specialized staging modules. To enable DR staging when fundus images are unavailable, we use cross-modal alignment between OCT and fundus representations. This approach involves training a latent bridge that projects OCT embeddings into the fundus feature space. We enhance clinical reliability through per-class threshold calibration and implement quality control checks for OCT-only DR staging. Experiments demonstrate robust multi-label performance (macro-F1 (Formula presented.) after per-class threshold calibration) and reliable calibration (ECE (Formula presented.)), and OCT-only DR staging is feasible in 96.1% of cases that meet the quality control criterion.