Improving microaneurysm detection in color fundus images by using context-aware approaches

Abstract

In this paper, we present two approaches to improve microaneurysm detector ensembles. First, we provide an approach to select a set of preprocessing methods for a microaneurysm candidate extractor to enhance its detection performance in color fundus images. The performance of the candidate extractor with each preprocessing method is measured in six microaneurysm categories. The best performing preprocessing method for each category is selected and organized into an ensemble-based method. We tested our approach on the publicly available DiaretDB1 database, where the proposed approach led to an improvement regarding the individual approaches. Second, an adaptive weighting approach for microaneurysm detector ensembles is presented.The basis of the adaptive weighting approach is the spatial location and contrast of the detected microaneurysm. During training, the performance of ensemble members is measured with respect to these contextual information, which serves as a basis for the optimal weights assigned to the detectors. We have tested this approach on two publicly available datasets, where it showed its competitiveness compared without previously published ensemble-based approach for microaneurysm detection. Moreover, the proposed approach outperformed all the investigated individual detectors.

Keywords: Context-aware weighting; Ensemble learning; Microaneurysm detection; Retinal image processing.