Abstract
Purpose :
The color of the optic nerve's central vessels, visible over the white myelin background, may serve as a reference to evaluate the increase in lens absorption to short wavelength radiation. It would allow observing premature lens aging in diabetic patients.
Methods :
Fundus images were obtained from 354 normal and 307 diabetic eyes with a Topcon TRC-NW300 fundus camera (Topcon, Japan). Image quality, laterality of the eye, nerve position and nerve and vessel segmentation were automatically assessed by using the Deep Learning training for the Laguna ONhE program which is mainly used for glaucoma (1-4). A multiple regression equation was calculated based on the RGB components of the vessels so as to deduce the biological age of normal subjects. This equation was also used for the diabetic population.
Results :
The biological age of normal subjects was estimated with a standard error (SE) of 5.93 years. Estimated age = 27.25 + (-0.366*R) + (1.556*G) + (-1.59*B) (r= 0.911, p<0.0001). Much more aging was observed in diabetic patients SE=10.556 (r=0.614, p<0.0001), as well as a greater dispersion (Figure).
Conclusions :
Crystalline lens aging can be estimated by observing the changes in color of the retinal central vessels as they pass through the optic disc. These data confirm previous normal results obtained with the fundus camera DEC-200 (MiiS, Taiwan)(5). At the moment we have not been able to reproduce these results, with equal precision, in all the fundus cameras. We have the hypothesis that some more modern or more sophisticated fundus cameras may have an intense filtering of ultraviolet radiation.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.