Automated identification and classification of retinopathy of prematurity using telemedical images

Abstract

newlineRetinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is a retinal vaso proliferative disorder which can cause blindness in premature and low birth weight infants. World Health Organization (WHO) has defined prematurity as birth before less than 37 weeks of gestation and low birth weight as less than 2500 grams. WHO has estimated that India has the highest number of preterm infants accounting for 3.5 million annually out of 15 million preterm infants born world over. Complications due to preterm birth cause blindness due to ROP leading to loss of human potential which can be prevented by timely diagnosis by ophthalmologists using advanced medical systems for screening and treatment. Incidence of ROP in India ranges from 41.5% to 47.2% among preterm infants reports an alarming trend that emphasizes the need to devise successful strategy to screen and treat ROP in order to alleviate this major public health problem. Indian ROP (IROP) Society has estimated that there are less than 100 ROP experts in India and only about 20 centres available for ROP screening and treatment. ROP is a global epidemic that is increasing in mammoth proportions and scarcity of ROP experts remains a universal phenomenon which has resulted a void in screening and treatment of ROP. The International Classification of ROP (ICROP) formed in 1984 defined standardized guidelines to screen and treat ROP. The classification located the disease in zones, characterized the severity in stages and described the extent based on the clock hours of the retinal surface involved. newlineTo establish a systematic approach for child health screening newline