Page 15 - Computational Retinal Image Analysis

4 CHAPTER 1 A brief introduction and a glimpse into the past

Part 1. Three introductory chapters offering a short presentation of,
respectively, this book together with a short historical note (this chapter), of the
contemporary clinical motivations and needs for RIA in healthcare, and of the
modalities for imaging the retina.
Part 2. Six chapters reviewing an essential set of computational techniques
for retinal image analysis, focusing on processing fundus cameras and optical
coherence tomography (OCT) images. These chapters cover landmark detection,
segmentation, quality assessment and algorithm validation.
Part 3. Seven chapters dedicated to algorithms for the detection of the main
lesions of interest in fundus camera and OCT images, covering among others
optic disc diseases, diabetic retinopathy (DR), and neurodegeneration and fluid
segmentation in OCT scans.
Part 4. Three chapters offering a healthcare perspective, discussing the growing
field of retinal biomarkers for systemic diseases, screening for DR, and
eye-oriented diagnosis.
Part 5. Three chapters dedicated to artificial intelligence for retina-related
research, including discussions of deep learning and big-data techniques,
and the practical challenges of creating, maintaining and making available to
research very large collections of clinical data under data governance rules.

Acknowledgments
Our sincere thanks go to the Elsevier team for their assistance with the production of
this book from an idea to publication, especially Tim Pitts and Mariana Kuhl, includ-
ing for unshakeable patience with our multiple infringements of deadlines.
We thank the many colleagues who have authored the chapters forming this book.
We hope that they, and indeed all readers, will find it useful and worth recommend-
ing for many years to come.
Finally, thank you to you, the reader, for buying this book. We hope you will find
it a valuable resource for teaching and research alike. We welcome your feedback.

References
[1] P. Keane, S. Sadda, Retinal imaging in the 21st century: state of the art and future direc-
tions, Ophthalmology 121 (12) (2014) 2489–2500.
[2] V. Deshpande, Ophthalmic ideas in ancient India, Indian J. Hist. Sci. 48 (2) (2013) 175–205.
[3] R. Pierantoni, L’Occhio e l’Idea, second ed., Boringhieri, Italy, 1982.
[4] Royal College of Ophthalmologists. http://www.mrcophth.com/Historyofophthalmology/
anatomy.htm, (Accessed 31 July 2019).
[5] W. Bynum, A Short History of Medicine. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University
Press, 2008.
[6] S.L. Polyak, The Retina, Chicago University Press, Chicago, IL, 1941.