Automatic measurement and analysis of vessel width in retinal fundus image

Abstract

The unexpected changes in the width of retinal blood vessels can be recognized as one of the significant characters during the proliferation of several diseases. Clinical studies verify that width of retinal blood vessels may undergo changes during diabetes, hypertension, Retinopathy of prematurity and Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy. Optical vessel swelling or Papilledema and optical neuritis are prominent ocular diseases that contribute to changes in the width. In this approach, width of retinal blood vessels has been determined to benefit the identification of such diseases. Every retinal fundus images exhibits several unique bifurcation points. The bifurcation points ensure stability and are not subject to any change even when prone to diseases. Identifying these points, our algorithm attempts to find the ratio of the width of a parent vessel with its corresponding child vessels at the bifurcation points. Experimental results prove that this ratio lies in the range of 1.1–1.8. Abrupt changes in the ratio ensures the probability of existence of ocular diseases.