A survey of machine learning approaches for age related macular degeneration diagnosis and prediction

Abstract

Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a complex disease caused by the interaction of multiple genes and environmental factors. AMD is the leading cause of visual dysfunction and blindness in developed countries, and a rising cause in underdeveloped countries. Currently, retinal images are studied in order to identify drusen in the retina. The classification of these images allows to support the medical diagnosis. Likewise, genetic variants and risk factors are studied in order to make predictive studies of the disease, which are carried out with the support of statistical tools and, recently, with Machine Learning (ML) methods. In this paper, we present a survey of studies performed in complex diseases under both approaches, especially for the case of AMD. We emphasize the approach based on the genetic variants of individuals, as it is a support tool for the prevention of AMD. According to the vision of personalized medicine, disease prevention is a priority to improve the quality of life of people and their families, as well as to avoid the inherent health burden. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018.