I-SCREEN started in January 2024. During the first 12 months of the project, major effort was put into the following activities to achieve the defined objectives:
Objective 1 - During the first 12 months of the I-SCREEN project, significant focus was placed on the design of clinical studies aimed at generating data for the development of advanced AI methodologies. The clinical studies (WP1), SUDETES and APENNINES, have been strategically designed to enable a comprehensive evaluation of both local and global changes associated with AMD. The study protocols, developed in collaboration with AI teams (WP2 and WP3), establish a robust foundation for advancing AI-driven innovations in diagnostic and predictive modelling. This collaborative approach ensures that the AI tools developed are both clinically relevant and technically sophisticated, paving the way for meaningful advancements in the field.
An initial approach to advancing the capabilities of AI models has been started as part of efforts in WP2. The methodological advancement has focused on improving data efficiency of AI algorithms, for which a new method utilizing self-supervised learning has been developed, that learns from a pair of consecutive scans, and which has been shown to be very suitable for capturing hidden temporal factors in a longitudinal dataset.
Objective 2 - With regards to Objective 2, during RP1, the primary focus was on establishing the necessary infrastructure for conducting large-scale prospective studies across all seven clinical sites. This included obtaining ethics approvals for the SUDETES and APENNINES studies, securing legal clearances, and completing the technical setup required to initiate the studies. Notably, these studies are designed to incorporate MDR-certified AI tools for precise monitoring and quantification of disease progression—a groundbreaking approach for many clinics. Significant efforts were dedicated to finalizing the legal agreements and frameworks associated with these arrangements.
Objective 3 - During RP1 of I-SCREEN, a robust network of community-based opticians and optometrists was established in collaboration with the seven clinical sites (WP4). This network now comprises 21 optician and optometrist offices, which will play a critical role in collecting community-based data. This data will be instrumental in developing an AI system capable of automated diagnosis of intermediate AMD using low-cost imaging devices. In the long term, this network will also facilitate the implementation of AI-based diagnostic solutions in community healthcare settings. Important to highlight are the different patient pathways across Europe, where the collaboration between clinics and optometry or optician sites varies greatly from country to country.
In addition to building this network, significant progress was made in developing the infrastructure necessary for community-based diagnostic software. Within WP3, a data collection platform was successfully developed, which will serve as the cornerstone of AI-driven screening initiatives. The platform supports the upload and management of clinical and imaging data.
Objective 4 - During RP1, in the absence of imaging data from the clinical studies, we have started conceptualizing the predictive model that will be developed for AMD progression. In addition, we have worked on developing necessary tools and methods that will be required to later compare the high-end and low-end OCTs. For both of these an approach for image registration, i.e. the algorithm for spatial alignment of two OCT scans acquired either from the same patient at two different time-points or on the same day with two different devices, a characteristic property of both SUDETES and APENNINES, is being developed. The approach allows to have a data-efficient and well-regularized spatial transformation estimate that maps the en-face views of two OCT scans.
