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Aging and biocomplexity: fractal analysis in the diabetic retinopathy as a model for the study of complex physio-pathological structure

Ancuta S. Telcian 1Annamaria Zaia 2

1. University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics, Bucharest-Magurele p.o.box mg-11, Bucharest 76900, Romania
2. Istituto Nazionale Riposo e Cura Anziani, Department of Gerontologic and Geriatric Research (INRCA), Via Birarelli, 8, Ancona 60100, Italy

Abstract

Retinopathy represents the biggest cause of blindness in the industrialized world, with a high incidence for old people. It point's out all the consequent affection of the retina to systemic illnesses as: the diabetes (diabetic retinopathy), the hypertension (hypertensive retinopathy), other disorders of endocrine nature and local degenerative phenomenon or metabolic functional, connected with aging.

The main purpose of the project is to

- develop a software able to qualify the abnormalities in the retinal vessel network, using highly sensitive parameters to pathology progression;

- deepen the employment of the fractal geometry within the identification and the qualification of the diabetic retinopathy;

- make an automatic method of segmentation of the vascular structure and to study the possibility to use it in substitution to the manual method;

- make a procedure for the extraction of the vascular retinal pattern and to follow the retinal vessel system modification using fractal dimension.

The current version of the method has been tested on several images differing for local retinal pattern view and ocular background.

The obtained results show that retinal vascular system is a fractal. The fractal dimension values are coherent with the analyzed figure complexity.

 

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Presentation: Short communication at SMCBS'2005 Workshop, by Ancuta S. Telcian
See On-line Journal of SMCBS'2005 Workshop

Submitted: 2005-08-09 10:51
Revised:   2009-06-07 00:44