A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool developed by Waterloo Engineering researchers could improve the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases by enhancing the clarity and detail of medical images doctors rely on.
The AI model reverses quality loss and reconstructs reliable images of the cornea, the transparent tissue in the front of the eye, after researchers taught it the physics behind the imaging process.
“The trade-off with cellular-level images is that they can appear out of focus and noisy,” said Dr. Kostadinka Bizheva, who supervised the study until suddenly passing away recently.
“It’s like trying to read something through frosted glass. Restoring the image quality is an essential step to ensuring an accurate diagnosis.”
A professor of physics and astronomy who was also associated with both the Faculty of Engineering and the School of Optometry and Vision Science at Waterloo, Bizheva had dedicated her research career to developing high-resolution eye-imaging technology for improved diagnosis and treatment.
Go to Bringing eye images into focus for the full story.