With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), especially deep learning, AI research in the field of ophthalmology has presented a trend of diversification in disease types, generalization in scenarios and deepening in researches. The AI algorithm has showed a good performance in the studies of diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and other ocular diseases, yielding up the great potential of ophthalmic AI. However, most studies are still in their infancy, and the application of ophthalmic AI still faces many challenges such as lack of interpretability for results, deficiency of data standardization, and insufficiency of clinical applicability. At the same time, it should also be noted that the development of multi-modal imaging, the innovation of digital technologies (such as 5G and the Internet of Things) and telemedicine, and the new discovery that retina status can reflect systemic diseases have brought new opportunities for the development of ophthalmic AI. Learn the current status of AI research in the field of ophthalmology, grasp the new challenges and opportunities in its development process, successfully realizing the transformation of ophthalmic AI from research to practical application.
Objective To analyze the characteristics of myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) and the outcome of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment by using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods A prospective study was carried out, which included 34 eyes of 31 patients with mCNV in West China Hospital of Sichuan University between May and December 2017. OCTA scans were conducted to all patients before treatment, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month and 3–6 months after treatment. The analysis was performed to evaluate the morphological characteristics, lesion area, parafoveal superficial vessel density and perfusion area of choroidal neovascularization before and after treatment. Results Among mCNV patients, small round crumby lesions, small branches, and capillaries responded well to anti-VEGF treatment. Compared with the mean lesion area in mCNV patients before treatment [(0.082±0.013) mm2], there was instant reduction 1 day after treatment [(0.064±0.013) mm2] and obviously decreased after 1 week [(0.046±0.011) mm2]. The parafoveal superficial vessel density and perfusion area before treatment were (15.2±0.5)% and (32.6±1.5)%, respectively, and obvious decrease was observed both in parafoveal superficial vessel density [(12.1±0.9)%] and perfusion area [(27.4±2.0)%] 1 day after treatment in mCNV patients, which began to recover 1 month after treatment. Conclusions OCTA is a non-invasive diagnostic examination, which can clearly identify tiny structures of mCNV, quantify the lesion area and display specific vasculature in mCNV patients. Furthermore, retinal microcirculation can be detected by using OCTA, which provides an effective approach of monitoring the progression and treatment effect of mCNV.
Objective To compare the features of OCT angiography (OCTA) between neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) patients before and after intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment. Methods A prospective cohort study. Twenty-nine patients (37 eyes) with nAMD (19 males and 10 females, aged 68.20±8.76) and 31 patients (34 eyes) with mCNV (9 males and 22 females, aged 43.10±11.80, with the mean diopter of −9.71±1.20 D) from Department of Ophthalmology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University during May and December 2017 were included in this study. Ranibizumab or Conbercept (0.5 mg/0.05 ml) was intravitreally injected in all eyes. The patients were follow-up for 3−6 months. The OCTA was conducted before treatment and 1 day, 1 week, 1 month and 3−6 months after treatment. In order to ensure that the scanning position was the same, the tracking mode was adopted for each scanning. According to the OCTA images, the lesion area, parafoveal superficial vessel density and perfusion area were measured and analyzed contrastively between nAMD and mCNV patients. Results The mean lesion area before and 1 month after treatment in nAMD patients were 0.38±1.87 mm2 and 0.06±0.12 mm2, while in mCNV patients, those were 0.26±1.06 mm2 and 0.03±0.05 mm2, respectively. There were statistically significant differences (Z=4.181, 4.475; P＜0.001) in CNV lesion area before and 1 month after treatment between nAMD and mCNV patients. Compared with those before treatment, the absolute change (Z=1.853, P=0.064) and the percentage changes (t=2.685, P=0.010) of CNV lesion area 1 month after treatment in nAMD and mCNV patients show a statistical meaning. There were significantly decreases in both parafoveal superficial vessel density (F=8.997, P=0.003) and perfusion area (F=7.887, P=0.015) 3 months after treatment in nAMD patients, while decreases in parafoveal superficial vessel density (F=11.142, P=0.004) and perfusion area (F=7.662, P=0.013) could be detected 1 day after treatment in mCNV patients, before rising 1 month after treatment. Conclusions There are significantly differences in lesion area before and after the treatment of intravitreal anti-VEGF between nAMD and mCNV patients by OCTA examination. Moreover, the changes of both parafoveal superficial vessel density and perfusion area after anti-VEGF treatment are statistically different in two groups.
ObjectiveTo observe the clinical characteristics of retinoblastoma (RB) in Southwest China.MethodsA retrospective clinical study. From January 2010 to December 2017, 66 RB patients diagnosed in Ophthalmology Department of West China Hospital of Sichuan University were included in the study. All the patients underwent ocular B-ultrasound, orbital CT or MRI examination. Ten patients underwent RetCam examination at the same time. Twenty-nine patients were diagnosed by histopathological examination, and 37 patients were diagnosed by clinical symptoms and imaging examination. According to whether the tumor invaded the orbit and optic nerve, it could be divided into extraocular stage and intraocular stage. Intraocular tumors were divided into A-E stages according to the international intraocular RB classification. Treatments were performed according to different stages. The general information, age at diagnosis, course of diseases (the time between onset symptoms and diagnosis), causes of visiting a doctor, classification, treatment methods and eyeball preservation rate were retrospectively analyzed.ResultsPatients all came from Southwest China (56 patients from Sichuan Province, 2 patients from Yunnan Province, 2 patients from Guizhou Province, and 6 patients from Tibet). The permanent residence were identified in 43 patients, including 27 patients (62.8%) from rural areas. There were 38 males (57.6%); 50 unilateral tumors (75.8%) and 16 bilateral tumors (24.2%); 51 first-visiting patients (77.3%) and 15 re-visiting patients (22.7%). The average diagnostic age of first-visiting patients was 20.9±14.4 months, with 23.2±14.7 and 11.2±7.6 months for unilateral and bilateral tumors, respectively. There were 41 patients had definite course and causes, of whom the average course was 90.6±115.2 days. The most common cause was leucocoria in 32 patients (62.7%), followed by redness and swelling in 4 patients (9.8%), and other causes in 5 patients (12.2%). Among the 15 re-visiting patients, the average diagnostic age was 63.6±46.8 months, the average course was 32.8±45.5 months. Recurrence was occurred in 5 patients (33.3%), leucocoria in 4 patients (26.7%), postoperative complication in 3 patients (20.0%), protrusion in 2 patients (13.3%) and redness in 1 (6.7%) patient, respectively. Fifty out of 82 eyes were admitted to hospital, including 37 eyes of first-visiting patients and 13 eyes of re-visiting patients. Among 37 first-visiting eyes, there were 5 eyes (13.5%) in stage A-C, 26 eyes (70.3%) in stage D-E, 6 eyes (16.2%) in extraocular stage. Five eyes in stage A-C were treated with laser photocoagulation and (or) cryotherapy combined with systemic chemotherapy. Four eyes in stage D were treated with intraocular arterial chemotherapy. Nineteen eyes (51.3%) were performed with enucleation, 2 eyes (5.4%) with evisceration and 7 eyes (18.9%) abandoned treatment. Among 13 re-visiting eyes, 6 eyes (46.2%, with 5 eyes of recurrence) had been enucleated before, 4 eyes (30.8%) were in extraocular stage and 3 eyes (23.1%) in stage D-E. Five eyes (38.5%) were treated with evisceration, 4 eyes (30.8%) with enucleation, 1 eye with oculoplastic surgery and 3 eyes (23.1%) abandoned treatment. The rate of eye preservation was 18.0%, 29.0% for intraocular stage and 0% for extraocular stage, respectively.ConclusionRB patients in Southwest China have a longer course between onset symptoms and diagnosis, more advanced classification and lower rate of eye preservation.