Estimating Retinal Sensitivity Using Optical Coherence Tomography with Deep-Learning Algorithms in Macular Telangiectasia Type 2

Abstract

Importance: As currently used, microperimetry is a burdensome clinical testing modality for testing retinal sensitivity requiring long testing times and trained technicians. Objective: To create a deep-learning network that could directly estimate function from structure de novo to provide an en face high-resolution map of estimated retinal sensitivity. Design, Setting, and Participants: A cross-sectional imaging study using data collected between January 1, 2016, and November 30, 2017, from the Natural History Observation and Registry of macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel) evaluated 38 participants with confirmed MacTel from 2 centers. Main Outcomes and Measures: Mean absolute error of estimated compared with observed retinal sensitivity. Observed retinal sensitivity was obtained with fundus-controlled perimetry (microperimetry). Estimates of retinal sensitivity were made with deep-learning models that learned on superpositions of high-resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans and microperimetry results. Those predictions were used to create high-density en face sensitivity maps of the macula. Training, validation, and test sets were segregated at the patient level. Results: A total of 2499 microperimetry sensitivities were mapped onto 1708 OCT B-scans from 63 eyes of 38 patients (mean [SD] age, 74.3 [9.7] years; 15 men [39.5%]). The numbers of examples for our algorithm were 67899 (103053 after data augmentation) for training, 1695 for validation, and 1212 for testing. Mean absolute error results were 4.51 dB (95% CI, 4.36-4.65 dB) when using linear regression and 3.66 dB (95% CI, 3.53-3.78 dB) when using the LeNet model. Using a 49.9 million-variable deep-learning model, a mean absolute error of 3.36 dB (95% CI, 3.25-3.48 dB) of retinal sensitivity for validation and test was achieved. Correlation showed a high degree of agreement (Pearson correlation r = 0.78). By paired Wilcoxon rank sum test, our model significantly outperformed these 2 baseline models (P