Multi-surface segmentation of OCT images with AMD using sparse high order potentials

In age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the quantification of drusen is important because it is correlated with the evolution of the disease to an advanced stage. Therefore, we propose an algorithm based on a multi-surface framework for the segmentation of the limiting boundaries of drusen: the inner boundary of the retinal pigment epithelium + drusen complex (IRPEDC) and the Bruch's membrane (BM). Several segmentation methods have been considerably successful in segmenting retinal layers of healthy retinas in optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. These methods are successful because they incorporate prior information and regularization. Nonetheless, these factors tend to hinder the segmentation for diseased retinas. The proposed algorithm takes into account the presence of drusen and geographic atrophy (GA) related to AMD by excluding prior information and regularization just valid for healthy regions. However, even with this algorithm, prior information and regularization still cause the oversmoothing of drusen in some locations. Thus, we propose the integration of local shape prior in the form of a sparse high order potentials (SHOPs) into the algorithm to reduce the oversmoothing of drusen. The proposed algorithm was evaluated in a public database. The mean unsigned errors, relative to the average of two experts, for the inner limiting membrane (ILM), IRPEDC and BM were 2.94 +/- 2.69, 5.53 +/- 5.66 and 4.00 +/- 4.00 mu m, respectively. Drusen areas measurements were evaluated, relative to the average of two expert graders, by the mean absolute area difference and overlap ratio, which were 1579.7 +/- 2106.8 mu m(2) and 0.78 +/- 0.11, respectively.This work is supported by FCT with the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2013, by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) with the reference project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006941. The authors would like to thank the questions and suggestions of the anonymous reviewers that helped to improve this document. J.O. wishes to acknowledge the Portuguese funding institution Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian for the Ph.D. Grant (process 126501) and to ENERMETER - Sistemas de Medição, Lda for their support.