Purpose: For this study, we aimed to determine whether a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based method (based on a feature extractor and an identifier) can be applied to monitor the progression of keratitis while managing suspected microbial keratitis (MK).
Methods: This multicenter longitudinal cohort study included patients with suspected MK undergoing serial external eye photography at the 5 branches of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital from August 20, 2000, to August 19, 2020. Data were primarily analyzed from January 1 to March 25, 2022. The CNN-based model was evaluated via F1 score and accuracy. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was used to measure the precision-recall trade-off.
Results: The model was trained using 1456 image pairs from 468 patients. In comparing models via only training the identifier, statistically significant higher accuracy (P < 0.05) in models via training both the identifier and feature extractor (full training) was verified, with 408 image pairs from 117 patients. The full training EfficientNet b3-based model showed 90.2% (getting better) and 82.1% (becoming worse) F1 scores, 87.3% accuracy, and 94.2% AUROC for 505 getting better and 272 becoming worse test image pairs from 452 patients.
Conclusions: A CNN-based approach via deep learning applied in suspected MK can monitor the progress/regress during treatment by comparing external eye image pairs.
Translational relevance: The study bridges the gap between the investigation of the state-of-the-art CNN-based deep learning algorithm applied in ocular image analysis and the clinical care of suspected patients with MK.