Novel automated screening of age-related macular degeneration

To determine the objective and quantitative hyperspectral parameters for distinguishing between age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and a normal macula.

Near-infrared hyperspectral images were taken of 71 eyes of 62 AMD patients with exudative AMD and 21 eyes of 12 control subjects without AMD. The spatial information included a 480 × 321-pixel image in a 50° field located at the ocular fundus and a 720-950-nm-per-pixel reflectance spectrum. Macular vectors were determined as the average spectrum for each macula, and reference vectors were used as average macular vectors for healthy volunteers. Variations in vector length and angle were calculated based on comparison with the reference vector. The AMD differentiation index was a parameter that minimized the plot overlap between AMD patients and controls.

Statistically significant differences between the AMD patients and controls were noted. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis revealed an area under the curve of 0.888. The appropriate threshold values were attained for the proposed discrimination index, including 68 % sensitivity, 95 % specificity and 74 % accuracy.

This study presents a simplified diagnostic index for the determination of age-related macular degeneration based on near-infrared spectra.