Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes caused by high blood sugar levels that damage the back of the eye (retina). If not diagnosed and treated, it can lead to blindness. Anyone with type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes can develop diabetic retinopathy.
However, diabetic retinopathy usually takes years to reach a stage where it can threaten your vision.
According to the statistics of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in 2021, the number of diabetics in my country ranks first in the world, with more than 140 million patients, making it the country with the largest number of diabetic patients in the world. Studies have shown that about 1 out of every 3 people with diabetes suffers from DR. As the main microvascular complications of diabetes, blindness and low vision caused by DR have become a major public health problem.
To minimize the risk of this happening, people with diabetes should:
Make sure they control blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol
Attend a Diabetic Eye Screening Appointment – Screenings are offered annually to all people with diabetes age 12 and older to detect and treat any problems early
How Diabetes Affects the Eyes
The retina is the layer of light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye that converts light into electrical signals. The signals are sent to the brain, which turns them into the images you see.
The retina requires a constant blood supply, which it receives through a network of tiny blood vessels.
Over time, persistently high blood sugar levels damage these blood vessels in 3 main stages :
Background retinopathy – tiny bumps in blood vessels that may bleed slightly but usually do not affect your vision
Proliferative retinopathy – more serious and widespread changes affecting blood vessels, including more severe intraocular hemorrhage Proliferative retinopathy – scar tissue and new blood vessels form in the retina, which is fragile and prone to bleeding; this may cause some vision problems lost
Too much sugar in the blood gradually clogs the capillaries that feed the retina, cutting off blood supply to the retina. As a result, the eye tries to grow new blood vessels. But these new blood vessels don't develop properly and are prone to leaking.
There are two types of diabetic retinopathy:
Early diabetic retinopathy. This form is more common, called nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), when new blood vessels have not yet grown (hyperplastic).
If you have NPDR, the walls of blood vessels in the retina weaken. Tiny bumps protrude from the walls of smaller blood vessels, sometimes allowing fluid and blood to seep into the retina. Larger retinal blood vessels begin to dilate and become irregular in diameter. NPDR may progress from mild to severe as more blood vessels become blocked.
Sometimes, damage to blood vessels in the retina causes fluid to build up (edema) in the central part of the retina (the macula). If macular edema causes vision loss, treatment is needed to prevent permanent vision loss.
Advanced diabetic retinopathy . Diabetic retinopathy can progress to this more severe type, called proliferative diabetic retinopathy. In this type, damaged blood vessels close up, causing new, abnormal blood vessels to grow in the retina. These new blood vessels are very fragile and may leak into the clear jelly-like substance that fills the center of the eye (vitreous humor).
Eventually, scar tissue from the growth of new blood vessels can cause the retina to detach from the back of the eye. If the new blood vessels interfere with the normal flow of eye fluid, pressure may build up in the eyeball. This damages the nerve responsible for transmitting images from the eye to the brain (the optic nerve), causing glaucoma.
In the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, the walls of blood vessels in the retina become weak. Small bumps appear on the walls of blood vessels, and sometimes fluid and blood seep into the retina. Tissue in the retina may swell, producing white spots on the retina. As diabetic retinopathy progresses, new blood vessels can grow, threatening your vision.
You are at greater risk if you:
long-term diabetes
Persistently high blood sugar (blood sugar) levels
have high blood pressure
high cholesterol
Pregnant with an Asian or Afro-Caribbean background
By controlling blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels, you can lower your chances of developing diabetic retinopathy.
Symptoms of Diabetic Retinopathy
You don't usually notice diabetic retinopathy early on because it tends not to have any noticeable symptoms until it becomes more advanced.
However, early signs of the condition can be spotted by taking pictures of the eyes during a diabetic eye screening.
Contact your GP or diabetes care team immediately if you:
gradual deterioration of vision
Sudden blindness
Shapes floating in your field of view (floaters)
blurred or mottled vision
eye pain or redness
difficulty seeing in the dark
These symptoms don't necessarily mean you have diabetic retinopathy, but it's important to get them checked.
Don't wait until your next screening appointment.
Diabetic Eye Screening
All people with diabetes 12 years of age or older are invited to have an eye screening every year.
Filtering is provided because:
Diabetic retinopathy causes no symptoms in its early stages
If left undiagnosed and treated, this condition can lead to permanent blindness
Screening can catch eye problems before they start affecting your vision
If the problem is caught early, treatment can help prevent or reduce vision loss
Screening tests include examining the back of the eye and taking pictures.
Depending on your results, you may be advised to return in a year for another appointment, to attend more regular appointments, or to discuss treatment options with a specialist.
Through ophthalmoscope, fundus fluorescein angiography and other tools to detect three contents:
bleeding, new blood vessels, retinal detachment
Diabetic retinopathy detection flow chart reference is as follows:
Aggressive treatment can delay onset of blindness
Lower risk of diabetic retinopathy
You can reduce your risk of developing diabetic retinopathy, or help prevent it from getting worse, by:
Control blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels
taking diabetes medications as prescribed
Attend all your screening appointments
Seek medical advice promptly if you notice any changes in vision
Maintain a healthy weight, eat a healthy and balanced diet, exercise regularly and stop smoking
Diabetic Retinopathy Treatment
Diabetic retinopathy needs to be treated only if the screening detects significant problems that mean your vision is at risk.
If the condition has not reached this stage, the recommendations above for managing diabetes are recommended.
The mainstays of treatment for more advanced diabetic retinopathy are:
Laser Treatment
Inject the medicine into your eye
surgery to remove blood or scar tissue from the eye
Value and Significance of Diabetes Prediction Model
Although doctors have various treatments for diabetic retinopathy, they are expensive, have side effects, and do not solve the problem at all, only relieve symptoms. Can we suggest a predictive model for diabetic retina to detect disease signs at an early stage and control disease progression? The answer is yes, Mr. Toby has established a diabetic retina prediction model based on artificial intelligence algorithms.
Introduction to the Diabetes Modeling Dataset
We have thousands of images of normal retina and images of diabetic retinopathy and can classify diabetic retinopathy. The picture below is part of the normal retina picture display
The picture below shows a picture of mild diabetic retinopathy. We can observe that there are not many new blood vessels.
The picture below is a picture of moderate diabetic retinopathy
The picture below is a picture of diabetic retinopathy with obvious hyperplasia
The picture below is a picture of severe diabetic retinopathy, and we can clearly find more new blood vessels.
Our AI model uses a deep learning algorithm to obtain better model performance.
Computer program reads retinal images
After the model reads the pictures of diabetic retinopathy, it starts training and learns the characteristics of the disease.
After the model is learned, it has automatic prediction capabilities, which can assist doctors in judging diseases, save medical institutions a lot of time, and improve the efficiency of medical consultations. Mr. Toby would like to remind that the model prediction is not 100% accurate, and it needs to cooperate and cross-validate with doctors with rich clinical experience.
Our diabetic retinopathy prediction model can predict the probability of a single picture, or predict the probability of thousands of pictures in batches.
Welcome to cooperate
If you are interested in the diabetic retinopathy prediction model project, welcome to contact with major medical institutions, scientific research institutions, and biopharmaceutical companies. We provide invoices, corporate contracts, and have complete processes and qualifications.
Artificial Intelligence Diabetic Retinopathy Prediction Model-Enterprise Research-Paper-Patent
Artificial intelligence makes life better!
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