Singapore team uses AI to screen for glaucoma

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Artificial intelligence is being used to screen for glaucoma, a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness through damage to the optic nerve at the back of the eye.

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), in collaboration with clinicians at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), Singapore developed the AI-enabled method which uses algorithms to differentiate optic nerves with glaucoma from those that are normal. This is done by analysing ‘stereo fundus images’, multi-angle 2D images of the retina that are combined to form a 3D image.

When tested on stereo fundus images from TTSH patients undergoing expert examination, the AI method yielded an accuracy of 97 per cent in diagnosing glaucoma.

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Glaucoma is usually asymptomatic until latter stages, when prognosis is poor. It is the principal cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and, in tandem with the rapid growth of the ageing population, is expected to affect 111.8 million people globally by 2040.

The automated glaucoma diagnosis method developed by NTU and TTSH, described in a study published in Methods in June 2021, could potentially be used in less developed areas where patients lack access to ophthalmologists, said the scientists.

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