Automatic location of blood vessel bifurcations in digital eye fundus images

Abstract

Retinal blood vessels are linked with hypertension and cardiovascular disease. It is generally known that vascular bifurcation is mainly involved in varying blood flow velocity as well as its pressure. This paper presents an efficient method for automatic location of blood vessel bifurcations in digital eye fundus images. The proposed algorithm comprised of three main steps: image enhancement, fuzzy clustering, and searching vascular bifurcation. The purposed algorithm revealed successful detection of bifurcations upon test images. Results showed improved diagnostic accuracy in identifying bifurcations with use of the proposed algorithm and encourage its use for further applications such as image registration, personal identification and pre-clinical scanning of retina diagnosis.