Ultrafast optic disc localization using projection of image features

Optic Disc (OD) localization is a fundamental step in developing computer-assisted diagnostics. In this work, an ultrafast method to locate the OD in retinal fundus images is presented. The proposed method is based on transforming the localization problem into two 1D problems by projecting the image features onto two perpendicular directions. Image features such as the directionality of the retinal vessels, the brightness and the size of the OD have been used in the current method. Two publicly available databases were used to evaluate the accuracy and the computation time of the proposed technique. The OD was correctly located in 71 out of 81 of the STARE images (87.6%) with computation time of 0.8 seconds per image. The OD was also successfully located in all the 40 images (100%) using the DRIVE database. ©2009 IEEE.