Segmentation of Fundus Eye Images Using Methods of Mathematical Morphology for Glaucoma Diagnosis Katarzyna St¸ apor 1 , Adam ´ Switonski 1 , Radim Chrastek 2 , and Georg Michelson 3 1 Institute of Computer Science, Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 16, PL-44-100 Gliwice, Poland, 2 Chair for Pattern Recognition, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Martenstrasse 3, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany, 3 Department of Ophthalmology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg Schwabachanlage 6, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany delta@ivp.iinf.polsl.gliwice.pl Abstract. In this paper the new method for automatic segmentation of cup and optic disc in fundus eye images taken from classical fundus ca- mera is proposed. The proposed method is fully based on techniques from mathematical morphology. Detection of cup region makes use of waters- hed transformation with markers imposed, while optic disk is extracted based on geodesic reconstruction by dilation. The obtained results are encouraging. 1 Introduction Glaucoma is a group of diseases characterized by the proceeding optic nerve neuropathy which leads to the rising diminution in vision field, ending with blindness. The correct optic disk (i.e. the exit of the optic nerve from the eye known as ”blind spot”) structure contains: neuroretinal rim of pink color and centrally placed yellowish cup [5]. The shape of the optic disc is more or less cir- cular, interrupted by the outgoing vessels. Its size varies from patient to patient. Its diameter lies between 40 and 60 piksels on 640x480 color photographs. The cup is the area within the optic disc where no nerve fibers and blood vessels are present and in 3D image appears as an excavation. The neuroretinal rim is the area between optic disc border and cup border. Glaucomatous changes in retina appearance embrace various changes in neu- roretinal rim and cup, as the result of nerve fibers damages. Optic disc structures evaluation is one of the most important examinations in glaucoma progress monitoring and diagnosis. Searching for glaucoma damages during routine examination is not an easy task and gives uncertain results even with the experienced ophthalmologist [5]. The existing methods of qualitative analysis are very subjective, while quantitative methods of optic disc morpho- logy evaluation (cup to disc ratio, neuroretinal rim area) do not result in full M. Bubak et al. (Eds.): ICCS 2004, LNCS 3039, pp. 41–48, 2004. c  Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004