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In our eyes, Google’s software sees heart attack risk

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Re: In our eyes, Google’s software sees heart attack risk

#2
As my PI notes, a lot of the success here can be explained by the model's excellent ability to determine age from the images of the retina. https://twitter.com/skathire/status/965661596503638016

This is quite good age detection - other efforts that I've seen (from face images, rather than retina images) are +/- 5 years, whereas this paper gets age to within +/- 3 years or so.

The fact that the model automatically detects anatomical features that humans recognize as being important is promising for a variety of applications, I think.

Re: In our eyes, Google’s software sees heart attack risk

#3
Any optician can do exactly the same thing during a simple check of your eyes. In this case I can’t see the benefit of this type of screening. The tool used by the optician is just a cheap lantern, but only the tool needed by the computer is way more expensive.

Re: In our eyes, Google’s software sees heart attack risk

#4

Any optician can do exactly the same thing during a simple check of your eyes. In this case I can’t see the benefit of this type of screening. The tool used by the optician is just a cheap lantern, but only the tool needed by the computer is way more expensive.

Perhaps a cheap lens/illuminator attachment for smartphones could be engineered for retinal imaging. If this method could be adapted to phones, many more people could be checked at low cost.

Re: In our eyes, Google’s software sees heart attack risk

#5

Any optician can do exactly the same thing during a simple check of your eyes. In this case I can’t see the benefit of this type of screening. The tool used by the optician is just a cheap lantern, but only the tool needed by the computer is way more expensive.

I'd suspect the tools will eventually be dramatically cheaper than a trained optician. Put it in a pharmacy, grocery store, or other central location and people could screen weekly instead of once every couple years (assuming they even see an optician).

Re: In our eyes, Google’s software sees heart attack risk

#6
post #4

Any optician can do exactly the same thing during a simple check of your eyes. In this case I can’t see the benefit of this type of screening. The tool used by the optician is just a cheap lantern, but only the tool needed by the computer is way more expensive.

Perhaps a cheap lens/illuminator attachment for smartphones could be engineered for retinal imaging. If this method could be adapted to phones, many more people could be checked at low cost.

It already exists. Most opticians take a image of your retina and store it in the cloud for further analysis and tracking the evolution.

In Spain (where I live) most opticians do not charge anything for this test, because it’s a minimal part of a typical prescription.

Re: In our eyes, Google’s software sees heart attack risk

#7
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps a cheap lens/illuminator attachment for smartphones could be engineered for retinal imaging. If this method could be adapted to phones, many more people could be checked at low cost.

It already exists. Most opticians take a image of your retina and store it in the cloud for further analysis and tracking the evolution. In Spain (where I live) most opticians do not charge anything for this test, because it’s a minimal part of a typical prescription.

That's like a $40 upcharge at my optometrist (USA). But she is a good family friend, walks me through everything she's seeing on there, and gives me glowing compliments on how beautiful my optical nerve is. It sounds stupid, but I'm going to miss that when I go to my new optometrist.

Re: In our eyes, Google’s software sees heart attack risk

#8
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps a cheap lens/illuminator attachment for smartphones could be engineered for retinal imaging. If this method could be adapted to phones, many more people could be checked at low cost.

It already exists. Most opticians take a image of your retina and store it in the cloud for further analysis and tracking the evolution. In Spain (where I live) most opticians do not charge anything for this test, because it’s a minimal part of a typical prescription.

Yeah, but I have great eyesight and haven't been to an optician in 15 years. However, I might still be at risk of a heart attack.

Re: In our eyes, Google’s software sees heart attack risk

#9
post #5

Any optician can do exactly the same thing during a simple check of your eyes. In this case I can’t see the benefit of this type of screening. The tool used by the optician is just a cheap lantern, but only the tool needed by the computer is way more expensive.

I'd suspect the tools will eventually be dramatically cheaper than a trained optician. Put it in a pharmacy, grocery store, or other central location and people could screen weekly instead of once every couple years (assuming they even see an optician).

As I have explained before, in Spain an optician does not charge anything for it because it’s ridiculously simple and it’s a small percentage of the effort that an optician needs to do for a prescription.

This test is different of a blood test for example. You don’t need to control the evolution weekly, or even monthly.

This is one of the most simple screening process. Because it’s easy to train the model with tons of images already made by opticians and optometrists. It does not have any value, it’s too simple.

My brother is an optician and has a huge database with retina images. If even me with limited knowledge of ML and my brother as field expert could train a model to detect blood pressure problems.

Too simple, no value.

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