Eye Imaging Software Could Aid Disease Diagnosis

Imaging technology that scans blood vessels in the eye could be used to help spot the early signs of a wide range of diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and dementia, according to a study carried out by the Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee.

Changes to the retina are often a sign of sickness elsewhere in the body and software jointly developed by the two universities known as VAMPIRE – Vessel Assessment and Measurement Platform for Images of the REtina - allows scientists to analyse the shape of blood vessels in thousands of images at a time and can identify known indicators of disease. The software could save significant amounts of time by largely automating the process of looking for retinal abnormalities in large data sets.

Professor Emanuele Trucco, of the University of Dundee’s School of Computing, said, “The ultimate aim is to develop a practical software tool supporting efficient and accurate measurement and analysis of large collections of retinal images. The potential for research and clinical impact is huge."

Analysing images from more than 2,500 people who had retinal scans collected for UK Biobank,  VAMPIRE proved effective at analysing images, though researchers say a larger trial is required to determine if it is the best way of utilising UK Biobank’s 80,000-strong retinal dataset.

UK Biobank was established by the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, Department of Health, Scottish Government and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

The study* was supported by the Leverhulme Trust and the Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation Eye Research Fund.

Dr Tom MacGillivray, of the University of Edinburgh’s Clinical Research Imaging Centre, who led the study, said, “This is the first step towards analysing all the retinal images held in the UK Biobank and to contribute valuable information about the health and condition of small blood vessels. Our work will hopefully accelerate research into the causes and treatments of chronic illnesses that affect millions of people in the UK.”