3-LbNets: Tri-Labeling Deep Convolutional Neural Network for the Automated Screening of Glaucoma, Glaucoma Suspect, and No Glaucoma in Fundus Images

Early detection of glaucoma, a widespread visual disease, can prevent vision loss. Unfortunately, ophthalmologists are scarce and clinical diagnosis requires much time and cost. Therefore, we developed a screening Tri-Labeling deep convolutional neural network (3-LbNets) to identify no glaucoma, glaucoma suspect, and glaucoma cases in global fundus images. 3-LbNets extracts important features from 3 different labeling modals and puts them into an artificial neural network (ANN) to find the final result. The method was effective, with an AUC of 98.66% for no glaucoma, 97.54% for glaucoma suspect, and 97.19% for glaucoma when analysing 206 fundus images evaluated with unanimous agreement from 3 well-trained ophthalmologists (3/3). When analysing 178 difficult to interpret fundus images (with majority agreement (2/3)), this method had an AUC of 80.80% for no glaucoma, 69.52% for glaucoma suspect, and 82.74% for glaucoma cases.Clinical relevance—This establishes a robust global fundus image screening network based on the ensemble method that can optimize glaucoma screening to alleviate the toll on those with glaucoma and prevent glaucoma suspects from developing the disease.