Artificial Intelligence Shows Potential to Fight Blindness

Researchers from the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University have found a way to use artificial intelligence to fight a complication of diabetes that affects the eyes. This advance has the potential to reduce the worldwide rate of vision loss due to diabetes. In a study published online in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the researchers describe how they used deep-learning methods to create an automated algorithm to detect diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a condition that damages the blood vessels at the back of the eye, potentially causing blindness. "What we showed is that an artificial intelligence-based grading algorithm can be used to identify, with high reliability, which patients should be referred to an ophthalmologist for further evaluation and treatment," said Theodore Leng, M.D., lead author.