Recent studies have introduced attention models for medical visual question answering (MVQA). In medical research, not only is the modeling of “visual attention” crucial, but the modeling of “question attention” is equally significant. To facilitate bidirectional reasoning in the attention processes involving medical images and questions, a new MVQA architecture, named MCAN, has been proposed. This architecture incorporated a cross-modal co-attention network, FCAF, which identifies key words in questions and principal parts in images. Through a meta-learning channel attention module (MLCA), weights were adaptively assigned to each word and region, reflecting the model’s focus on specific words and regions during reasoning. Additionally, this study specially designed and developed a medical domain-specific word embedding model, Med-GloVe, to further enhance the model’s accuracy and practical value. Experimental results indicated that MCAN proposed in this study improved the accuracy by 7.7% on free-form questions in the Path-VQA dataset, and by 4.4% on closed-form questions in the VQA-RAD dataset, which effectively improves the accuracy of the medical vision question answer.
Objective To observe the functional state of the optic nerve and discover the injury of visual pathway function in time under general ane sthesia. The flash visual evoked potential (F-VEP) was used to monitor visual function during orbital surgery. Methods A total of 252 out of 282 patients undergoing orbital surgery under general anesthesia were successfully monitored by F-VEP during the surgery. All patients were monitored by this method under the following conditions:consious state before operation, under general anaesthesia, during and after dissection of orbital tumor and at the end of operation. Results ①There was no significant difference of wave amplitude and latency under general anesthesia and consciousness condition. ②The amplitude and latency of F-VEP were normal in the orbital surgery withou toptic nerve injury. ③Pulling and oppression of optic nerve could cause temporary wave loss, but the wave recovered after removal of the pull and oppression. ④ The wave loss of F-VEP would occur immedicately when optic nerve was severe injured and its blood supply was deficient. Since the application of the visual function monitoring, 24 cases were treated in time during disturbance of visual function and no patient has unexpected visual loss during orbital surgery. Conclusion The intraoperative monitoring of F-VEP during orbital surgery can decrease the proportion of permanent visual loss caused by orbit al surgery, and help the surgical procedures go to function-anatomy stage from experience-anatomy stage. (Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis, 2001,17:260-263)
Objective To observe the changes of amplitude and latency of mini visual evoked optential (mini VEP) examinations in infants at different age.Methods A total of 84 healthy infants and adults (168 eyes) were randomly selected to underwent mini VEP. According to the age, all the individuals were divided into seven groups: A, 0-3 months; B, 4-6 months; C: 7-12 months; D: 1-3 years; E: 4-6 years; F: 7-12 years; G: adults (control). There were 12 individuals (24 eyes) in each group. By using the stimulater of mini VEP, the flash VEP was performed and the changes of amplitude and latency of P100 wave were recorded and analyzed.Results The average value of amplitude in group A was（7.39plusmn;1.79）mu;V which was the lowest, and the average latency was （137.45plusmn;7.64）ms which was the largest.At the same time, the average amplitude of P100 increased from group A to E (F=359.56); the average latency decreased from Group A to D（F=326.64）; the difference was significant (P＜0.01). The amplitude in group E, F, and G was high and no significant difference was found (F=2.39，P＞0.05);the latency in group D,E,F,and G was short with no significant difference (F=2.64，P＞0.05）.Conclusions With the growth of the infants' age, the amplitude of miniVEP increases and latency decreases; moreover, the latency reaches the normal adult level in advance of the amplitude of miniVEP.
Objective To investigate the characteristic of the multifocal visual evoked potentials(MVEP)and the visual function across the visual field in anisometropic amblyopes and isometropic amblyopes. Methods MVEP from 32 anisometropic amblyopic eyes and 31 control eyes were tested. Results In anisometropic amblyopic eyes,the latencies of MVEP were significantly prolonged．The amplitudes of MVEP were significantly attenuated in the central region of the visual field,and these phenomena gradually reduced with the increase of the eccentricity． Conclusion The visual function of anisometropic amblyopic eyes is reduced more significantly in the central region than in the peripheral region of the visual field. (Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis,20000,16:27-29)
Objective To observe the characteristics of magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging（MR-DTI）for optic nerves and optic radiation in blind patients.Methods The optic nerves and optic radiation of 20 blind patients（blind group）and 20 controls（control group） were scanned by MR-DTI. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and directional encoded color (DEC) maps were acquired through postprocessing with the aid of volumeone 1.72 software. The signal intensity of optic nerves and optic radiation were then observed. The FA, mean diffusivity (MD), lambda;∥ and lambda;perp; value of bilateral optic nerves and optic radiation in two groups were measured in the DEC maps.Results While the high signal intensity was found in bilateral optic nerves in FA and DEC maps in control group，the signal decreased markedly in the blind group. The FA and lambda;∥ value of optic nerves in the blind group were declined obviously compared to that in the control group. The difference was statistically significant (t=16.294, 14.660;P=0.000). The MD and lambda;perp; value of optic nerves in the blind group were increased obviously compared to that in the control group, the difference was also statistically significant (t=8.096, 8.538; P=0.000). The high signal intensity was found in bilateral optic radiation in FA and DEC maps in both the blind and control groups. There were no statistic differences in FA and MD value in bilateral optic radiation between the blind and control groups (Left：t=1.456，1.811；P=0.152，0.076. Right：t=0.779，0.073；P=0.440，0.942). Conclusion A low signal intensity of bilateral optic nerves and a high signal intensity of bilateral optic radiation were found in blind patients.
ObjectiveTo assess and classify the features of fundus autofluorescence (FAF) with optical coherence tomography (OCT) in clinically significant diabetic macular edema according to the criteria reported by ETDRS. Methods Eighty-four eyes of 47 diabetic patients with untreated clinically significant macular edema (CSME) diagnosed by OCT/FAF examination were enrolled in this study. The mean BCVA was 0.38±0.26, CRT was (360.23±139.40) μm and volume was (9.59±1.97) mm3. According to the FAF patterns, the CSME patients were divided into normal group (30 eyes), single-spot group (20 eyes), and multiple-spot group (22 eyes). There were 44, 18 and 22 eyes with diffuse edema, cystoid edema and serous retinal detachment, respectively. The correlation of visual acuity with central retinal thickness and total volume of macular was analyzed between different groups. ResultsIn the normal group and the single-spot group, the prevalence of the diffuse type was highest in the OCT (83.3%, 60.0%). In the multiple-spot group, the prevalence of the SRD type was highest in the OCT (50.0%). In the three FAF pattern groups, the BCVA were 0.47±0.26, 0.43±0.30, 0.28±0.19; the CRT were (272.41±48.62), (402.84±134.89), (505.67±135.20) μm; the total volume was (8.67±1.03), (8.94±1.63), (10.79±2.20) mm3. The BCVA were 0.43±0.25, 0.45±0.30, 0.22±0.14; the CRT were (272.41±48.62), (402.84±134.89), (505.67±135.20) μm; the total volume was (8.58±0.95)、(9.22±1.33)、(12.03±2.01) mm3 in eyes with diffuse edema, cystoid edema and serous retinal detachment, respectively(r=-0.31, -0.34; P > 0.05). Correlation analysis showed CRT positively correlated to volume (r=0.85, P < 0.05), BCVA negatively correlated to CRT and volume(r=-0.31, -0.34; P > 0.05). ConclusionThere are more diffuse edema eyes in normal group and single-spot group, while serous retinal detachmen in multiple-spot group. FAF correlates better with visual acuity than OCT patterns.
Objective To evaluate the visual function before and after photodynamic therapy(PDT) in patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization ( CNV) caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods Twenty-five consecutive patients (34 eyes) treated with PDT (verteporfin) for subfoveal CNV in age-related macular degeneration diagnosed by fluorescein angiography (FFA), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Visual function including best corrected visual acuity, contrast sensitivity frequency, binocular function, confusion, stereo-vision, color vision, metamorphopsis and central scotoma were examed before photodynamic therapy and 1 week, 1 month, 3 month after photodynamic therapy. The follow-up time varied from 3 months to 2 years (mean 7.6 months). Results The changes of visual function at the 3rd month after photodynamic therapy revealed improving in 13 eyes (38.24%), without any change in 17 eyes (50.00%), and decreasing in 6 eyes (17.65%). Visual acuity with logMRA improved after photodynamic therapy, but without statistic difference. All spatial contrast sensitivity improved. Contrast sensitivity for spatial frequencies 5 cycles per degree (cpd) was better after photodynamic therapy with significant difference (P=0.045).Binocular function, fusion function, stereo function and color vision were slightly improved without statistic difference. Conclusion Damage of visual function in macular degeneration is many-sided. The treatment of PDT for exudative AMD can improve part visual function. (Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis，2004，20：289-291)
Objective To study the regulations of visual evoked potential(VEP) changes in 30 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods VEP were performed in 30 MS patients,and the results were compared with normal subjects. Results The abnormality rate of VEP were 76.7%. 82.6% of patients with abnormal VEP showed clinical visual symptoms; 17.4% among those patients have no clinical visual symptoms. Conclusion The rate of VEP abnormal in MS patients is more high. It may help more in the diagnosis of MS.