Can YOLO Detect Retinal Pathologies? A Step Towards Automated OCT Analysis

Background: Optical Coherence Tomography has become a common imaging technique that enables a non-invasive and detailed visualization of the retina and allows for the identification of various diseases. Through the advancement of technology, the volume and complexity of OCT data have rendered manual analysis infeasible, creating the need for automated means of detection. Methods: This study investigates the ability of state-of-the-art object detection models, including the latest YOLO versions (from v8 to v12), YOLO-World, YOLOE, and RT-DETR, to accurately detect pathological biomarkers in two retinal OCT datasets. The AROI dataset focuses on fluid detection in Age-related Macular Degeneration, while the OCT5k dataset contains a wide range of retinal pathologies. Results: The experiments performed show that YOLOv12 offers the best balance between detection accuracy and computational efficiency, while YOLOE manages to consistently outperform all other models across both datasets and most classes, particularly in detecting pathologies that cover a smaller area. Conclusions: This work provides a comprehensive benchmark of the capabilities of state-of-the-art object detection for medical applications, specifically for identifying retinal pathologies from OCT scans, offering insights and a starting point for the development of future automated solutions for analysis in a clinical setting.