Deep Learning-Based Retinal Layer Segmentation in Optical Coherence Tomography Scans of Patients with Inherited Retinal Diseases

Background In optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans of patients with inherited retinal diseases (IRDs), the measurement of the thickness of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) has been well established as a surrogate marker for photoreceptor preservation. Current automatic segmentation tools fail in OCT segmentation in IRDs, and manual segmentation is time-consuming. Methods and material Patients with IRD and an available OCT scan were screened for the present study. Additionally, OCT scans of patients without retinal disease were included to provide training data for artificial intelligence (AI). We trained a U-net-based model on healthy patients and applied a domain adaption technique to the IRD patients' scans. Results We established an AI-based image segmentation algorithm that reliably segments the ONL in OCT scans of IRD patients. In a test dataset, the dice score of the algorithm was 98.7%. Furthermore, we generated thickness maps of the full retinal thickness and the ONL layer for each patient. Conclusion Accurate segmentation of anatomical layers on OCT scans plays a crucial role for predictive models linking retinal structure to visual function. Our algorithm for segmentation of OCT images could provide the basis for further studies on IRDs.