Integrated model for personalized diabetic retinopathy screening and monitoring using risk-stratification and automated AI-based fundus image analysis (PerDiRe)
University of Latvia ·Latvia
About this project
<p>Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness and reduced vision in the developed world. Many countries in Europe, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have no national screening programs for diabetic retinopathy, while Norway just recently implemented such a program, which is not yet personalized. Currently, the monitoring interval for patients with diabetic retinopathy set according to the international guidelines is “rigid”. It may, however, vary from patient to patient, as it depends on various risk factors. The cost of regular annual screening of diabetic retinopathy is enormous, while the rising number of patients with diabetes mellitus surpasses the capacity of ophthalmologists. The aim of the project is to implement a new personalized diabetic retinopathy screening and monitoring program using artificial intelligence (AI) for future applications in the integrated care of patients with diabetes.<br> Objectives of this project include: 1. Evaluation of the current diabetic retinopathy status and risk factors in patients with diabetes in partner countries; 2. Improvement and implementation of a personalized risk-stratification algorithm in the daily diabetes eye screening; 3. Utilization of fast data extraction methods from medical electronic records and AI to detect novel risk factors for diabetic retinopathy; 4. Evaluation of the cost-efficacy of running an AI-based diabetic retinopathy monitoring program in the partner countries; 5. Initiation of a sustainable screening and monitoring programs for diabetic retinopathy in the partner countries as part of their ongoing or future eHealth initiatives.<br> The project will be promoted by the University of Latvia (Riga, Latvia). Other participants will be Tartu University (Tartu, Estonia), University of Oslo (Oslo, Norway) and Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (Kaunas, Lithuania). </p>
Bilateral cooperation results
The project was a positive test of cooperation and innovation. Cooperation was strengthened, knowledge exchange took place intensively, and all project partners gained new skills and experience. Quality clinical care was provided to diabetic patients and the results of the project will later contribute to further research in the field of diabetic retinopathy. We are glad that during the project rallies, we got to know the screening approaches of diabetic retinopathy in the institutions of the project participants and there was an exchange of experiences. In the future, the scientific direction of the project will be further developed. It is planned to apply to Eurostars and ICPerMed project calls to continue the work on the analysis of eye images with artificial intelligence and the study of new biomarkers of diabetic retinopathy. As part of these new project applications, it is planned to expand the PerDiRe consortium and continue the research and analysis of the data obtained. This experience is not only medically significant, but also provides an opportunity to develop new collaboration and research opportunities.
Project partners
- University of Oslo Donor project partner· Norway
- Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Project partner· Lithuania
- University of Tartu Project partner· Estonia