Artificial Intelligence and Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging

This review article aimed to highlight the application and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging in ophthalmology. Artificial intelligence programs seek to simulate intelligent human behavior in computers. With an abundance of patient data, especially with the advent and growing use of imaging modalities such as OCT, AI programs provide us with the unique opportunity to analyze this plethora of information and assist in making clinical decisions in the field of ophthalmology. Groups around the world have developed and evaluated AI programs that gather data from diagnostic modalities, such as OCT, that assist in the diagnosis and management of ophthalmological diseases with a high accuracy. Artificial intelligence programs using OCT have the potential to play a significant role in the diagnosis and management of ophthalmological disease in the near future. Incorporation of AI in medicine, however, is not without its pitfalls. Some limitations of AI in ophthalmology are also discussed in this review. These include the deskilling of physicians due to increase in reliance on automation, inability of AI programs to take a holistic approach to clinical encounters with patients, requirement of pre-existing strong datasets to train AI programs, and the inability of AI programs to incorporate the ambiguity and variability that is intrinsic to the nature of clinical medicine.