Utilization of artificial neural networks in the diagnosis of optic nerve diseases

This research is concentrated on the diagnosis of optic nerve disease through the analysis of pattern electroretinography (PERG) signals with the help of artificial neural network (ANN). Multilayer feed forward ANN trained with a Levenberg Marquart (LM) backpropagation algorithm was implemented. The designed classification structure has about 96.4% sensitivity, 90.4% specifity and positive prediction is calculated to be 94.2%. The end results are classified as healthy and diseased. Testing results were found to be compliant with the expected results that are derived from the physician's direct diagnosis. The end benefit would be to assist the physician to make the final decision without hesitation.