Intelligent Retinal Blood Vessel Analysis on Multiple Imaging Modalities

Campus Plus is introducing another Australian Government Department of Education National Industry PhD Program PhD industry-academia collaboration that brings together QUT (Queensland University of Technology)‘s Professor Yuefeng Li, PhD candidate Owais Ali and Dr Dr Di Xiao from TeleMedC on a project to help with early detection of cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. According to the World Health Organisation, the disease kills 17.9 million people annually. Retinal blood vessels are the only blood vessels of the body that are visible in a non-invasive imaging method. It has been found that retinal structure changes and abnormalities are associated with hypertension, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. Measuring these vessels and their associated changes, however, remains a challenge.

This project aims to develop sophisticated AI models to support the design of multi-functional deep learning algorithms for automatic retinal artery/vein segmentation and classification. It will also use data models to better understand corresponding parameters from segmented and classified retinal blood vessel changes with risks of cardiovascular disease.

This project will contribute to cardiovascular disease risk prediction, early detection and disease monitoring.