The AROMA dataset for automatic detection of artifact type and severity in retinal optical coherence tomography angiography

Introduction: In recent years, retinal vascular imaging has attracted growing interest and is experiencing rapid technological advancements in imaging modalities such as swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS OCT-A). OCT-A enables precise, noninvasive, quantitative measurements of retinal vascularization. However, it is also prone to artifacts that are challenging to detect and can significantly limit diagnostic accuracy and biomarker reliability. Methods: We present a dataset of en face retinal SS OCT-A images, labeled by artifact type and severity. Each patient's OCT-A scan consists of 14 images that are graded by multiple experts and assigned corresponding artifact labels with an overall quality grade. We also report results for two deep learning binary classification models trained on the dataset: one based on image compression via principal component analysis (PCA) and the other using a six-channel tensor. Results: The dataset comprised 281 OCT-A scans from 115 anonymized patients. The PCA-based model achieved a precision of 87% for image quality classification, while the six-channel model achieved 97%. Conclusion: Using a curated dataset of en face SS OCT-A images with detailed artifact annotations, we trained a deep learning model capable of high-precision image quality classification. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using task-specific artificial intelligence for quality assessment based on artifact detection in retinal imaging.