A Lesion-Based Diabetic Retinopathy Detection Through Hybrid Deep Learning Model

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) can be defined as visual impairment caused by prolonged diabetes affecting the blood vessels in the retina. Globally, it stands as the primary contributor to blindness, impacting approximately 191 million individuals. While prior research has addressed DR classification using retinal fundus images, existing methods often focus on isolated lesion detection, lacking a comprehensive framework for the simultaneous identification of all lesions. Previous studies concentrated on early-stage features like exudates, aneurysms, hemorrhages, and blood vessels, sidelining severe-stage lesions such as cotton wool spots, venous beading, very severe intraretinal microvascular abnormalities (IRMA),…