Minireviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Dec 20, 2025; 15(4): 107166
Published online Dec 20, 2025. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v15.i4.107166
Artificial intelligence-based apps for screening and diagnosing diabetic retinopathy and common ocular disorders
Rajwinder Kaur, Arvind Kumar Morya, Parul C Gupta, Sarita Aggarwal, Nitin K Menia, Amanjot Kaur, Sukhchain Kaur, Sony Sinha
Rajwinder Kaur, Department of Ophthalmology, Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bathinda 151101, Punjab, India
Arvind Kumar Morya, Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad 508126, Telangana, India
Parul C Gupta, Department of Ophthalmology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, Punjab, India
Sarita Aggarwal, Department of Ophthalmology, Santosh Deemed to be University, Ghaziabad, Ghaziabad 201009, Uttar Pradesh, India
Nitin K Menia, Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Vijaypur 180001, Jammu and Kashmīr, India
Amanjot Kaur, Department of Pharmacology, Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bathinda 151101, Punjab, India
Sukhchain Kaur, Centre for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bathinda 151101, Punjab, India
Sony Sinha, Department of Ophthalmology - Vitreo-Retina, Neuro-Ophthalmology and Oculoplasty, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna 801507, Bihar, India
Author contributions: Kaur R, Morya AK, Kaur A, Kaur S, Sinha S, and Aggarwal S conceptualized and wrote the manuscript; Menia NK, Gupta PC, and Sinha S edited the manuscript and prepared the necessary documents for submission; Morya AK submitted the final manuscript with all the documents.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Arvind Kumar Morya, MD, Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bibi Nagar, Hyderabad 508126, Telangana, India. bulbul.morya@gmail.com
Received: March 17, 2025
Revised: April 15, 2025
Accepted: May 21, 2025
Published online: December 20, 2025
Processing time: 140 Days and 16.4 Hours
Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI), encompassing machine learning and deep learning, is being extensively used in medical sciences. It is slated to positively impact the diagnosis and prognostication of various diseases. Deep learning, a subset of AI, has been instrumental in diagnosing diabetic retinopathy (DR), diabetic macular edema, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and numerous other ocular diseases. AI performs equally well in the early prediction of glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. Integrating AI with telemedicine promises to improve healthcare delivery, although challenges persist in implementing AI algorithms, especially in developing countries. This review provides a comprehensive summary of AI, its applications in ophthalmology, particularly DR, the diverse algorithms utilized for different ocular conditions, and prospects for the future integration of AI in eye care.

Keywords: Age-related macular degeneration; Alzheimer's disease; Artificial intelligence; Automatic retinal image analysis; Chronic kidney disease; Convolutional neural networks; Diabetic retinopathy; Diabetic macular edema; International council of ophthalmology; Machine learning; Massive training artificial neural networks; Natural language processing; OCT angiography; Optical coherence tomography; Vision transformers

Core Tip: In this modern world, artificial intelligence-based algorithms have a definitive role in the early screening of different ocular diseases. Early screening helps in rapid referral and appropriate management to prevent sight-threatening complications. However, all said and done, it needs to be applied wisely to preserve the importance of human touch and empathy in clinical practice.