CMS-NET: deep learning algorithm to segment and quantify the ciliary muscle in swept-source optical coherence tomography images

BACKGROUND: The ciliary muscle plays a role in changing the shape of the crystalline lens to maintain the clear retinal image during near work. Studying the dynamic changes of the ciliary muscle during accommodation is necessary for understanding the mechanism of presbyopia. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been frequently used to image the ciliary muscle and its changes during accommodation in vivo. However, the segmentation process is cumbersome and time-consuming due to the large image data sets and the impact of low imaging quality. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to establish a fully automatic method for segmenting and quantifying the ciliary muscle on the basis of optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. DESIGN: A perspective cross-sectional study. METHODS: In this study, 3500 signed images were used to develop a deep learning system. A novel deep learning algorithm was created from the widely used U-net and a full-resolution residual network to realize automatic segmentation and quantification of the ciliary muscle. Finally, the algorithm-predicted results and manual annotation were compared. RESULTS: For segmentation performed by the system, the total mean pixel value difference (PVD) was 1.12, and the Dice coefficient, intersection over union (IoU), and sensitivity values were 93.8%, 88.7%, and 93.9%, respectively. The performance of the system was comparable with that of experienced specialists. The system could also successfully segment ciliary muscle images and quantify ciliary muscle thickness changes during accommodation. CONCLUSION: We developed an automatic segmentation framework for the ciliary muscle that can be used to analyze the morphological parameters of the ciliary muscle and its dynamic changes during accommodation.