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Medical Image Processing pp 269–290Cite as

Tortuosity as an Indicator of the Severity of Diabetic Retinopathy

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Abstract

The retinal vasculature can be viewed directly and noninvasively, offering a unique and accessible window to study the health of the human microvasculature in vivo. The appearance of the retinal blood vessels is an important diagnostic indicator for much systemic pathology, including diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, and atherosclerosis [1–3]. There is mounting evidence supporting the notion that the retinal vasculature may provide a lifetime summary measure of genetic and environmental exposure, and may therefore act as a valuable risk marker for future systemic diseases [4]. Using its characteristics may provide early identification of people at risk due to diverse disease processes [5].

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http:www.ces.clemson.edu/ahoover/stare.

  2. 2.

    http://www.isi.uu.nl/Research/Databases/DRIVE/.

  3. 3.

    http://messidor.crihan.fr.

  4. 4.

    http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/VassarStats.html.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge with thanks the help and assistance of Dr. Eric Meijering, Dr. Michal Sofka, and Dr. Michael Cree on issues regarding their respective software. A database of retinal images, with the microaneurysms manually identified by experts, was kindly supplied by Dr. Jean-Claude Klein of the Center of Mathematical Morphology of MINES, Paris Tech. One of us (G.D.) acknowledges the award of a Fulbright Senior Scholarship, which provided the opportunity to expand work in this area and others.

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  1. California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA, 91320, USA

    Geoff Dougherty

  2. NPHS, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA

    Michael Iorga

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Correspondence to Geoff Dougherty .

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  1. , Applied Physics and Medical Imaging, California State University Channel Isla, One University Drive, Camarillo, 93012, USA

    Geoff Dougherty

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Iorga, M., Dougherty, G. (2011). Tortuosity as an Indicator of the Severity of Diabetic Retinopathy. In: Dougherty, G. (eds) Medical Image Processing. Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9779-1_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9779-1_12

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