眼底画像のコンピュータ支援診断の現状と課題 Current status and issues of computer-aided diagnosis on retinal fundus images

Retinal fundus images are useful for the early detection of a number of ocular diseases. Examinations using retinal fundus images are cost effective and are suitable for mass screening. Consequently, retinal fundus images are obtained in many health care centers and medical facilities during medical checkups for ophthalmic examinations. The increase in the number of ophthalmic examinations improves ocular health care in the population; however, it also increases the workload of ophthalmologists. Therefore, computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems developed for analyzing retinal fundus images can assist ophthalmologists by reducing their workload and in improving the screening accuracy. This paper describes the background of CAD aimed at detection and analysis of ocular diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, and glaucoma using retinal fundus images. Moreover, this paper reviews the CAD systems reported from domestic and overseas research groups, including our group. We believe that the CAD systems have the potential to help ophthalmologists in their diagnosis.