clinical trials for world’s first intelligent OCT retinal disease screening system

It is the first artificial intelligence (AI) imaging and screening system in the world that seamlessly integrates an OCT retinal imaging device and AI lesion detection software. Retinal diseases are associated with progressive damage or degeneration of the eye macular – the area in the center of the retina linked to eyesight or vision.

The screening system is jointly developed by Ping An Technology – technology arm of Ping An Insurance Group- and US-based Optovue, Inc.  The clinical trial was conducted at three well-known research institutions, the Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, Shanghai First People’s Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital of Tongji University.

Intelligent OCT facilitates disease detection accuracy and speed

OCT is a high-resolution, non-contact and non-invasive diagnostic technique that renders an in vivo cross-sectional view of the retina.OCT relies on the operator to correctly align the device on the patient’s eye for a proper retinal examination. The intelligent OCT retinal disease screening system developed by Ping An Technology focuses on the integration of an OCT retinal examination device with AI-powered screening software and applies the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) technique in the model training process.  The intelligent OCT retinal screening system conducts learning and analysis of hundreds of thousands of OCT data.

The clinical trial was initiated in December 2018 at the above three research institutions and involved 784 study subjects.

From the start of an OCT examination to a patient scan code used to generate an intelligent screening report, the entire process can be completed in three minutes. The findings suggested that the accuracy of tests on the samples by the system in image quality assessment, lesion detection, and referral urgency assessment were 99.2%, 98.6%, and 96.7% respectively, compared to the ground truth established by experts.

Xie Guotong, Chief Medical Scientist of Ping An Group, said: “This is the first time in the industry at home and abroad that multi-center prospective research on AI-assisted ophthalmic medical products has been conducted. The team of expert ophthalmologists led by the Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University, high-quality ophthalmic data and scientific research methods provided vital medical support for the accuracy and safety of ophthalmic AI models. With the strong healthcare ecosystem of Ping An Group, primary medical institutions will be empowered with high-quality ophthalmic AI models to assist in carrying out diagnosis and treatment at different levels.”

Source: Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.