近年来随着医疗领域数字化、信息化建设的加速推进，人工智能的应用越来越广泛，在眼科医学方面尤为突出。婴幼儿处于视觉系统发育的关键时期，此时发生的眼病往往会造成不可逆的视功能损伤，带来沉重的家庭和社会负担。然而，由于婴幼儿群体的特殊性以及小儿眼科医生的短缺，开展大规模小儿眼病筛查工作十分困难。最新研究表明：人工智能在先天性白内障、先天性青光眼、斜视、早产儿视网膜病变以及视功能评估等领域已经得到相关应用，在多种婴幼儿眼病的早期筛查、诊断分期、治疗建议等方面都有令人瞩目的表现，有效解决了许多临床难点与痛点。但目前婴幼儿眼科人工智能仍然不如成年人眼科发展充分，亟须进一步的探索和研发。
In recent years, with the acceleration of digitalization and informatization in medical field, artificial intelligence (AI) is more and more widely applied, especially in ophthalmology. Infants are in the critical period of visual development, during which eye diseases can lead to irreversible visual impairment and bring heavy burden to family and society. Due to the particularity of infants and the shortage of pediatric ophthalmologists, it is challenging to carry out large-scale screening for eye diseases of infants. According to the latest studies, AI has been studied and applied in the fields of congenital cataract, congenital glaucoma, strabismus, amblyopia, retinopathy of prematurity, and evaluation of visual function, and it has achieved remarkable performance in the early screening, diagnosis stage and treatment suggestions, solving many clinical difficulties and pain points effectively. However, AI for infantile ophthalmology is not as developed as for adult ophthalmology, so it needs further exploration and development.
近年来人工智能(artificial intelligence，AI)技术在医学领域的应用发展迅猛，尤其在眼科领域，成果显著，极大地提高了相关影像数据的诊断效率，推动了该领域研究的进展。然而，大多数AI的应用都集中于成人眼病，在婴幼儿眼病方向的研究较少。究其原因，可能是婴幼儿眼部影像数据采集配合度低，部分影像设备应用受限，且相关领域专业眼科医生数量匮乏。然而，婴幼儿期是视觉发育最重要的阶段，也是出生缺陷早期筛防诊治的重灾区，对患儿的视觉发展具有长远且重要的影响，亟需AI相关产品提高婴幼儿眼病筛查效率，缓解医疗资源不足的现状。本文将对近年AI在婴幼儿眼病领域的研究应用现状、进展及存在的相关问题进行综述。
In recent years, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine, especially in ophthalmology, has developed rapidly with remarkable results. This has greatly improved the diagnostic efficiency of relevant imaging data and promoted further research in this field. However, most applications of AI are focused on adult eye diseases, and few studies have addressed infantile eye diseases. This may be because of the non-cooperative nature of infants, the limited availability of imaging equipment in infants, and the lack of pediatric ophthalmologists. Infancy is the most important stage of vision development. Disturbance during this period have a profound and lasting influence on vision development. Hence, early screening, diagnosis, and treatment of birth defects is important. AI-related products, which improves the efficacy of infant eye disease screening, are urgently needed. This paper reviews the current status, progress, and existing problems of recent research related to application of AI in infantile eye diseases.
