Classification of images based on small local features: a case applied to microaneurysms in fundus retina images.

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs), the state of the art in image classification, have proven to be as effective as an ophthalmologist, when detecting referable diabetic retinopathy. Having a size of [Formula: see text] of the total image, microaneurysms are early lesions in diabetic retinopathy that are difficult to classify. A model that includes two CNNs with different input image sizes, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], was developed.