Automatic 3D Point Set Reconstruction from Stereo Laparoscopic Images using Deep Neural Networks

In this paper, an automatic approach to predict 3D coordinates from stereo laparoscopic images is presented. The approach maps a vector of pixel intensities to 3D coordinates through training a six layer deep neural network. The architectural aspects of the approach is presented and in detail and the method is evaluated on a publicly available dataset with promising results.

A Two-phase Decision Support Framework for the Automatic Screening of Digital Fundus Images

In this paper we give a brief review on the present status of automated detection systems describe for the screening of diabetic retinopathy. We further detail an enhanced detection procedure that consists of two steps. First, a pre-screening algorithm is considered to classify the input digital fundus images based on the severity of abnormalities. If an image is found to be seriously abnormal, it will not be analysed further with robust lesion detector algorithms. As a further improvement, we introduce a novel feature extraction approach based on clinical observations. The second step of the proposed method detects regions of interest with possible lesions on the images that previously passed the pre-screening step. These regions will serve as input to the specific lesion detectors for detailed analysis. This procedure can increase the computational performance of a screening system. Experimental results show that both two steps of the proposed approach are capable to efficiently exclude a large amount of data from further processing, thus, to decrease the computational burden of the automatic screening system.

An Ensemble-based System for Microaneurysm Detection and Diabetic Retinopathy Grading

Reliable microaneurysm detection in digital fundus images is still an open issue in medical image processing. We propose an ensemble-based framework to improve microaneurysm detection. Unlike the well-known approach of considering the output of multiple classifiers, we propose a combination of internal components of microaneurysm detectors, namely preprocessing methods and candidate extractors. We have evaluated our approach for microaneurysm detection in an online competition, where this algorithm is currently ranked as first and also on two other databases. Since microaneurysm detection is decisive in diabetic retinopathy grading, we also tested the proposed method for this task on the publicly available Messidor database, where a promising AUC 0.90 with 0.01 uncertainty is achieved in a 'DR/non-DR'-type classification based on the presence or absence of the microaneurysms.

An ensemble-based system for automatic screening of diabetic retinopathy

In this paper, an ensemble-based method for the screening of diabetic retinopathy (DR) is proposed. This approach is based on features extracted from the output of several retinal image processing algorithms, such as image-level (quality assessment, pre-screening, AM/FM), lesion-specific (microaneurysms, exudates) and anatomical (macula, optic disc) components. The actual decision about the presence of the disease is then made by an ensemble of machine learning classifiers. We have tested our approach on the publicly available Messidor database, where 90% sensitivity, 91% specificity and 90% accuracy and 0.989 AUC are achieved in a disease/no-disease setting. These results are highly competitive in this field and suggest that retinal image processing is a valid approach for automatic DR screening.

An Unsupervised Ensemble-based Markov Random Field Approach to Microscope Cell Image Segmentation

In this paper, we propose an approach to the unsupervised segmentation of images using Markov Random Field. The proposed approach is based on the idea of Bit Plane Slicing. We use the planes as initial labellings for an ensemble of segmentations. With pixelwise voting, a robust segmentation approach can be achieved, which we demonstrate on microscope cell images. We tested our approach on a publicly available database, where it proven to be competitive with other methods and manual segmentation.