Evaluating imaging repeatability of fully self-service fundus photography within a community-based eye disease screening setting

PURPOSE

This study aimed to investigate the imaging repeatability of self-service fundus photography compared to traditional fundus photography performed by experienced operators.

DESIGN

Prospective cross-sectional study.

METHODS

In a community-based eye diseases screening site, we recruited 65 eyes (65 participants) from the resident population of Shanghai, China. All participants were devoid of cataract or any other conditions that could potentially compromise the quality of fundus imaging. Participants were categorized into fully self-service fundus photography or traditional fundus photography group. Image quantitative analysis software was used to extract clinically relevant indicators from the fundus images. Finally, a statistical analysis was performed to depict the imaging repeatability of fully self-service fundus photography.

RESULTS

There was no statistical difference in the absolute differences, or the extents of variation of the indicators between the two groups. The extents of variation of all the measurement indicators, with the exception of the optic cup area, were below 10% in both groups. The Bland-Altman plots and multivariate analysis results were consistent with results mentioned above.

CONCLUSIONS

The image repeatability of fully self-service fundus photography is comparable to that of traditional fundus photography performed by professionals, demonstrating promise in large-scale eye disease screening programs.

A quantitative analysis method assisted by image features in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

The determination accuracy of alloying elements in high alloy steel is generally poor in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) due to their matrix effect. To solve this problem, an image quantitative analysis (IQA) method was proposed and verified by determining nickel (Ni) in 17 stainless steel samples in this work. The results showed that the coefficient of determination (R²) was increased from 0.9833 of a conventional spectrum quantitative analysis (SQA) method to 0.9996 of the IQA method, and the average relative error of cross-validation (ARECV) and root mean squared error of cross-validation (RMSECV) were decreased from 56.80% and 1.0818 wt% to 15.93% and 0.9866 wt%, respectively. Besides, the determinations of chromium (Cr) and silicon (Si) demonstrated the generalization ability of the IQA. This study provides an effective approach to improving the quantitative performance of LIBS through the combination of image processing and computer vision technology.