A team led by Professor Anna May from the LMU Equine Clinic has created a clever tool that can spot a serious eye disease in horses. This tool uses advanced technology called deep learning to recognize the disease and help veterinarians make accurate diagnoses.
In a recent study, the researchers asked about 150 veterinarians to look at 40 pictures of horse eyes. Some of the eyes were healthy, some had the disease called ERU, and some had other problems. Then, they asked the deep learning tool to look at the same pictures and make its own judgments.
Professor May compared the veterinarians’ guesses to the tool’s answers. She found out that horse specialists got it right about 76% of the time, while other vets got it right about 67% of the time. But the deep learning tool did even better, with a correctness rate of 93%.
The tool is easy to use – all you need is a smartphone and an internet connection. Professor May says it’s not supposed to replace veterinarians, but it can be a big help, especially for less experienced vets or in places where there aren’t many horse doctors around.
Finding the disease early means horses can start treatment sooner, which might slow down how fast the disease gets worse and save their eyes.
Source: Phys
