Application of The Full-Width-At-Half-Maximum Image Segmentation Method to Analyse Retinal Vascular Changes in Patients With Diabetic Retinopathy
Abstract The study used spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and full width at half maximum image segmentation to investigate the morphological changes of retinal blood vessels in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR).Seventy-five patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) without DR and 65 patients with DR were studied. The vascular images of superior temporal region B of the retina were obtained by SD-OCT. The edges of retinal vessels were identified by the full-width-at-half-maximum image segmentation method. The lumen diameter, wall thickness (WT), wall cross-sectional area (WCSA), and wall-to-lumen ratio (WLR) were investigated.We found that compared with no-diabetic-retinopathy (NDR) group, patients in DR group had increased retinal arteriolar lumen diameter (RALD), retinal arteriolar outer diameter (RAOD), and WT(128.80 µm vs. 104.88 µm; 147.01 µm vs. 135.60 µm; 18.29 µm vs. 15.26 µm; P < 0.05 respectively). And, the retinal venular lumen diameter, retinal venular outer diameter, and venular WT in the DR group also increased (146.17 µm vs. 133.66 µm; 180.20 µm vs. 156.43 µm; 17.01 µm vs. 11.38 µm; P < 0.05 respectively). The morphological changes of retinal vessels were significantly correlated with DR stage.In conclusion,in diabetic patients with DR, both retinal arteries and veins are widened with increased vascular thickness.