Analysis of ophthalmologic images by interactive feature extraction

A computer-assisted method for the investigation of the ocular fondus is presented. This procedure forms part of a series of tools that have been included in an ophthalmologic work station now being implemented at the «Istituto di Elaborazione della Informazione» (IEI). The work station is being developed as part of an ongoing research and development activity carried out by IEI in collaboration with the «Istituto di Clinica Oculistica» of the University of Pisa. The method proposed differs from traditional ones in that the features of an image are extracted automatically on the basis of a limited sequence of control points inserted interactively by the user, and described as a series of B-spline curves. The analysis of the features is rendered easy and effective due to the specific properties of B-spline curves; at the same time a significant data compression is achieved.