Automated analysis of retinal vascular tortuosity on color retinal images

Abstract

Recent advances in medical imaging modality have enabled us to identify new features in retinal vasculature. One of the features is retinal vascular tortuosity which has been shown to become a predictive factor for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. The changes in retinal vascular tortuosity might be a sign of severity or improvement of the disease. In this paper, we propose a new method for measuring retinal vascular tortuosity. We adopt a new technique to analyze tortuosity that consider vessel-segment's width simultaneously. Our proposed method measures vessel-segment's tortuosity on its edge. A qualitative assessment shows that the method is appropriate for measuring the tortuosity of the vessels in different widths and directions in the image. Finally, a comparison distinguishing tortuous vs. non tortuous vessels demonstrates that the proposed approach may be suitable for predicting or earlier diagnosis of diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.