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Development of Artificial Intelligence for the Management of Retinal Diseases

New Christian Doppler Laboratory opened at MedUni Vienna

The number of patients at risk of severe retinal diseases or even blindness in the future is growing much faster than the number of trained ophthalmologists. The time available for examination is becoming increasingly scarce, while at the same time the amount of information that needs to be collected, processed and classified, particularly in the form of retinal scans, optical coherence tomography (OCT), is growing. In the Christian Doppler Laboratory for "Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Retina" opened at MedUni Vienna under the direction of Hrvoje Bogunović from the University Department of Ophthalmology and Optometry, the focus is on developing AI-based systems for more efficient diagnosis, monitoring and therapy of retinal diseases.

"Our overall goal is to make treatment processes more efficient for physicians by supporting them in the area of medical image analysis. Specifically, the aim is to make optimal use of information from retinal scans for diagnosis and patient management," explains Bogunović. This will be implemented by means of developing AI-based clinical decision support systems. "Ophthalmology, as an image-intensive branch of medicine with standardized imaging protocols, is excellently positioned to serve as a testing ground for the introduction of such AI-based support systems," says the lab director.

"It is important to understand the major role AI can play in healthcare," emphasizes Digitization Minister Dr. Margarete Schramböck. "It can help identify the causes of diseases - the earlier, the better. Austria wants to be at the forefront of this, so I am very pleased about this CD lab, which will make an important contribution."

"Building on many years of scientific excellence and innovation in the field of ophthalmology, the new CD Lab will strengthen MedUni Vienna's focus on precision medicine, thanks to support from the Christian Doppler Society. Close collaboration between bioinformatics, the clinic and the corporate partner will ensure the translation of research findings through to patient care," emphasizes Michaela Fritz, Vice Rector for Research and Innovation at MedUni Vienna.

AI as a major challenge

The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical practice is an opportunity, but at the same time a major challenge for the scientific community. "Current AI systems rely on enormous amounts of data, but at the same time they are very fragile because they cannot easily generalize across different imaging systems and therefore often create opaque black-box systems," Bogunović points out. The new lab, in cooperation with the Christian Doppler Society, is therefore working to remove these hurdles to ensure that artificial intelligence technology supports, rather than hinders, clinical workflows, he adds.

"In the past five years in particular, there has been intense work in medicine to understand what AI systems are capable of. The next five years will be about how AI can best support clinicians in their daily work in practice."
Bogunović and the bulk of his research group are computer scientists, but are involved and employed at MedUni Vienna's University Department of Ophthalmology and Optometry. As a result, there is close, interdisciplinary and successful cooperation with the retina specialists there. The laboratory's corporate partner is Heidelberg Engineering, a company specializing in medical devices that develops imaging and healthcare IT products for diagnostics in ophthalmology.

More info under https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/en/ueber-uns/events/2021/christian-doppler-laboratory-for-artificial-intelligence-in-retina/

The CD-Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence in Retina is a project of the Medical University of Vienna, the corporate partner is Heidelberg Engineering.

Christian Doppler Laboratories are financed by joint public and corporate funding. The major public funding source is the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs of the Republic of Austria (BMDW).