Artificial Intelligence-Based Quantification of Central Macular Fluid Volume and VA Prediction for Diabetic Macular Edema Using OCT Images

Introduction: We studied the correlation of central macular fluid volume (CMFV) and central subfield thickness (CST) with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in treatment-naïve eyes with diabetic macular edema (DME) 1 month after anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study investigated eyes that received anti-VEGF therapy. All participants underwent comprehensive examinations and optical coherence tomography (OCT) volume scans at baseline (M0) and 1 month after the first treatment (M1). Two deep learning models were separately developed to automatically measure the CMFV and the CST. Correlations were analyzed between the CMFV and the logMAR BCVA at M0 and logMAR BCVA at M1. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of CMFV and CST for predicting eyes with BCVA [Formula: see text] 20/40 at M1 was analyzed.

Results: This study included 156 DME eyes from 89 patients. The median CMFV decreased from 0.272 (0.061-0.568) at M0 to 0.096 (0.018-0.307) mm³ at M1. The CST decreased from 414 (293-575) to 322 (252-430) μm. The logMAR BCVA decreased from 0.523 (0.301-0.817) to 0.398 (0.222-0.699). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the CMFV was the only significant factor for logMAR BCVA at both M0 (β = 0.199, p = 0.047) and M1 (β = 0.279, p = 0.004). The AUROC of CMFV for predicting eyes with BCVA [Formula: see text] 20/40 at M1 was 0.72, and the AUROC of CST was 0.69.

Conclusions: Anti-VEGF therapy is an effective treatment for DME. Automated measured CMFV is a more accurate prognostic factor than CST for the initial anti-VEGF treatment outcome of DME.