We Are Working on the Development of Artificial Intelligence in Eye Health

Artificial intelligence is driving major transformation in medicine as in all other fields. Ophthalmology, where visual elements, imaging techniques and microsurgery are at the forefront, stands among the leading areas in this regard. Turkish Ophthalmological Society is providing training to its members in the field of artificial intelligence under the leadership of the Artificial Intelligence Commission, which it established within the association to manage this major transformation process. The Commission is working to develop new artificial intelligence-supported software and programs.

Prof. Dr. Hakan Özdemir, Chair of the Turkish Ophthalmological Society Artificial Intelligence Commission, shared his assessments regarding the development of artificial intelligence and its effects on eye health with the following information: "We have organized applied artificial intelligence courses specifically for young ophthalmologists. We help our society members make contact with teams that will develop algorithms where they see the need. Our Commission members conduct discussions and give conferences on artificial intelligence transformation processes in fields other than ophthalmology. In this way, we contribute to other disciplines both within and outside medicine."

Prof. Dr. Özdemir summarized how artificial intelligence technologies bring certain ethical and practical issues in ophthalmology applications: "The transparency of decision-making processes in artificial intelligence systems, data privacy and possible inaccuracies of algorithms raise questions about the reliability and acceptability of this technology. The creation of the broad and diverse datasets required to train these systems and the need to collect sufficient data from different ethnic groups and geographies brings its own challenges. Additionally, a significant legal transition period will be needed regarding the practical use of these systems in real life. In this context, we are preparing ourselves to take a role in the emergence of legal infrastructure by positioning ourselves on the side of those developing artificial intelligence technologies."

Artificial intelligence used in some countries, particularly in the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy, can make diagnoses with very high accuracy rates, even exceeding 99 percent. It is possible with artificial intelligence to diagnose this independently of a doctor quite easily, simply by taking a photograph. Diabetic retinopathy is a very important public health problem. It is a condition that shows bleeding occurring on the back of the eye in diabetic patients. It causes blindness and is one of the most important causes of blindness in developed societies. Early diagnosis is very important in this disease. By making an early diagnosis, there is an opportunity to stop the disease before it reaches the blindness stage."

Hakan Özdemir continued his remarks as follows: "As Turkish Ophthalmological Society, we established the Artificial Intelligence Commission three years ago. As a Commission, we both provide training and work to develop new data, artificial intelligence-supported software and programs. Visual data is at the forefront; artificial intelligence can see and identify much better than humans. While a person would need years of training to read things at micron-level resolution, artificial intelligence-supported eye tomography with proper data can make a diagnosis as well as the best eye doctor."

Artificial intelligence plays a key role in creating personalized treatment methods
Prof. Dr. Hakan Özdemir stated that artificial intelligence technology has a very critical characteristic in the transformation toward personalized medicine. As Turkish Ophthalmological Society, he shared that they are among the first associations to demonstrate the importance given to artificial intelligence in the field of medicine and to conduct work by establishing a commission on this subject. Thanks to artificial intelligence technologies, concepts such as early diagnosis, disease prediction, improvement of treatment processes and personalized medicine in the field of eye health are now becoming more accessible. As Turkish Ophthalmological Society, we are determinedly continuing our efforts to be a pioneer in this transformation, to strengthen our members in this area and to promote the ophthalmological applications of artificial intelligence in our country.