arXiv:2602.08580q-bio.TOcs.CV2026-02

开源工具VascX可自动提取眼底图像血管生物标志物,支持临床研究。

retinalysis-vascx: An explainable software toolbox for the extraction of retinal vascular biomarkers

  • 基于血管骨架构建图结构,实现精准血管特征提取
  • 多数标志物重测信度高(ICC > 0.5),部分对图像扰动敏感
  • 适合眼科研究者快速提取与定制血管生物标志物

从彩色眼底图像(CFI)中自动提取视网膜血管生物标志物对大规模视网膜血管研究至关重要。我们提出VascX,一个开源的Python工具箱,从动脉-静脉分割掩码出发,提取血管骨架,构建无向与有向血管图,并将片段整合为更长血管。计算出包括血管密度、中心视网膜等效值(CREs)和扭曲度在内的综合生物标志物。空间局部标志物可在相对于黄斑和视盘的网格上计算。VascX通过GitHub和PyPI发布,附带完整文档与示例。在不同设备重复拍摄同一眼的测试-重测分析显示,多数VascX标志物具中到高度一致性(ICC > 0.5),且不同标志物稳健性存在差异。对图像扰动与启发式参数的敏感性分析进一步揭示了这些差异。最终,VascX提供可解释、易修改的特征提取工具,补充分割结果,生成可靠血管标志物。其基于图的计算流程支持可复现、区域感知的测量,适用于大规模临床与流行病学研究。通过便捷提取现有标志物并快速实验新标志物,支持眼组学研究。其鲁棒性与计算效率利于在大型数据库中规模化部署,开源发布降低眼科研究者与临床医生的使用门槛。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Automatic extraction of retinal vascular biomarkers from color fundus images (CFI) is crucial for large-scale studies of the retinal vasculature. We present VascX, an open-source Python toolbox that extracts biomarkers from CFI artery-vein segmentations. VascX starts from vessel segmentation masks, extracts their skeletons, builds undirected and directed vessel graphs, and resolves vessel segments into longer vessels. A comprehensive set of biomarkers is derived, including vascular density, central retinal equivalents (CREs), and tortuosity. Spatially localized biomarkers may be calculated over grids placed relative to the fovea and optic disc. VascX is released via GitHub and PyPI with comprehensive documentation and examples. Our test-retest reproducibility analysis on repeat imaging of the same eye by different devices shows that most VascX biomarkers have moderate to excellent agreement (ICC > 0.5), with important differences in the level of robustness of different biomarkers. Our analyses of biomarker sensitivity to image perturbations and heuristic parameter values support these differences and further characterize VascX biomarkers. Ultimately, VascX provides an explainable and easily modifiable feature-extraction toolbox that complements segmentation to produce reliable retinal vascular biomarkers. Our graph-based biomarker computation stages support reproducible, region-aware measurements suited for large-scale clinical and epidemiological research. By enabling easy extraction of existing biomarkers and rapid experimentation with new ones, VascX supports oculomics research. Its robustness and computational efficiency facilitate scalable deployment in large databases, while open-source distribution lowers barriers to adoption for ophthalmic researchers and clinicians.

眼底图像血管分析生物标志物开源工具

Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。