Automatic detection of microaneurysms using DeTraC deep convolutional neural network classifier with woodpecker mating algorithm

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication of diabetes that leads to visual blindness. Early identification of DR can prevent the loss of sight. The first visible sign of DR is the appearance of micro aneurysms (MAs). Micro aneurysms are seen as small red circular spots on the retinal surface. The very small size of micro aneurysms proves to be challenging in its proper detection. In this research, DeTrac Deep Convolutional Neural Network m classifier with Woodpecker Mating Algorithm is proposed for the detection of MAs. By using this technique, every image is classified as either MAs or non-MAs pixel to automatically detect micro aneurysms from the retinal images. Experimental results are evaluated on diabetic-retinopathy-detection (DRD) dataset of the Kaggle website. Extensive simulations on this dataset shows an improved performance over the existing methods with 0.98 mean sensitivity, 0.97 mean specificity, and 0.98 mean accuracy in detecting the MAs irrespective of their intrinsic properties.