Characterization of diabetic retinopathy and estimation of tear film breakup time using ocular thermography

Abstract

Infrared Thermography is a cost effective, non-invasive technique newlineto acquire functional imaging. It is used in medical applications like detection newlineof breast cancer, melanoma, inflammatory arthritis, hand arm vibration newlinesyndrome, tempromandibular dysfunction, burn depth analysis, neonatal newlinetemperature monitoring, fever screening etc. In the field of ophthalmology, it newlineis used for characterization of ocular surface temperature, analysis of post newlinetherapeutic effects and diagnosis of ocular disorders like dry eye syndrome, newlinemeibomian gland dysfunction, glaucoma, Graves ophthalmopathy, age related newlinemacular degeneration, and inflammatory disease. newlineIn India diabetic retinopathy is reported to be around 3 million newlinepeople aged 40 years and older (Rajiv Raman, 2022). If detected early, it can newlinebe prevented or the rate of disease progression can be reduced by keeping newlineblood glucose and blood pressure levels under control. As a mass screening newlinetool for early detection and to prevent the progress of disease leading to newlineblindness, application of thermography as an non-invasive functional imaging newlinetechnique is utmost suitable and its applicability is explored in this thesis. The newlinestudies on application of ocular thermography in diagnosis of diabetic newlineretinopathy and estimation of thermal tear film breakup time are limited and newlinetherefore needs to be addressed. Hence, in this research work, characterization newlineof diabetic retinopathy, estimation of thermal tear film breakup time and newlinevariation of textural features with infrared wavelengths are studied through newlineocular thermography. newline