A survey on automated microaneurysm detection in Diabetic Retinopathy retinal images

Automated retinal image analysis is becoming an imperative screening tool for early revealing of certain risks and diseases like Diabetic Retinopathy. Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is the prominent cause of blindness in the world. Early detection of diabetic retinopathy can provide operative treatment. Early treatment can be conducted from detection of microaneurysms. Microaneurysms are the earliest clinical sign of diabetic retinopathy and they appear as small red spots on retinal fundus images. Microaneurysms are reddish in color with a diameter less than 125 μm. The existing trained eye care specialists are not able to screen the growing number of diabetic patients. So there is a need to develop a technique that is capable to detect microaneurysms as a part of diagnosis system, so that medical professionals are able to diagnose the stage of the disease with ease. Automated microaneurysm detection can decrease the workload of ophthalmologists and cost in DR screening system. Early automated microaneurysms detection can help in reducing the incidence of blindness. In this paper, we review and analyze the techniques, algorithms and methodologies used for the detection of microaneurysms from diabetic retinopathy retinal fundus images.

I. Introduction

Due to modern living style, a list of people is getting affected with Diabetes. The World Health Organization evaluated that 135 million people have diabetes mellitus worldwide and the number of people with diabetes will increase to 300 million by the year 2025 [1]. Diabetes is a systematic and chronic end organ disease that occurs when the pancreas does not secrete enough insulin or the body is unable to process it properly [2]. A side effect of diabetes is Diabetic Retinopathy in which different parts of the retina get affected. Diabetic retinopathy is a medical condition where the retina is damaged because fluid leaks from blood vessels into the retina. Doctors recognize diabetic retinopathy by examining the features, such as blood vessel area, exudates, hemorrhages, microaneurysms and texture. Diabetic retinopathy can be divided into three stages of non-proliferative retinopathy: mild, moderate, and severe and one stage of proliferative retinopathy [3].