A piecewise Gaussian model for profiling and differentiating retinal vessels

Accurate measurement and identification of blood vessels could provide useful information to clinical diagnosis. A piecewise Gaussian model is proposed to describe the intensity distribution of vessel profile in this paper. The characteristic of central reflex is specially considered in the proposed model. The comparison with the single Gaussian model is performed, which shows that the piecewise Gaussian model is a more appropriate model for vessel profile. The obtained model parameters could be utilized in the identification of vessel type. The minimum Mahalanobis distance classifier is employed in the classification. 505 segments of vessels were tested. The success rate is 82.46% and 89.03% for the arteries and veins respectively.