Evidence mapPaperPMID 42098713Full record

ArticleBMC medicine2026

Smartphone-based lightweight AI system for real-time multiple anterior segment disease screening: development and real-world validation.

Yuwen Liu, Changsheng Xu, Shinan Wu, Yuqian Wang, Wenying Guan, Shaopan Wang, Xiang Lin, Qi Zhang, Zhaolin Liu, Qiuping Liu and 8 more

Abstract readValidation Study
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

18 authors.

Yuwen Liu *Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen University affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Eye Regenerative Medicine, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Changsheng Xu *Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen University affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Eye Regenerative Medicine, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Shinan Wu *Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen University affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Eye Regenerative Medicine, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Yuqian WangFujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen University affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Eye Regenerative Medicine, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Wenying GuanFujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen University affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Eye Regenerative Medicine, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Shaopan WangFujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen University affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Eye Regenerative Medicine, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Xiang LinFujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen University affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Eye Regenerative Medicine, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Qi ZhangDepartment of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, Hunan, China.
Zhaolin LiuDepartment of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, Hunan, China.
Qiuping LiuDepartment of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, Hunan, China.
Junhua FanXiamen Humanity Hospital, Xiamen, 361000, Fujian, China.
Huping WuFujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen University affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Eye Regenerative Medicine, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Ying LiDepartment of Ophthalmology, Xi'an People's Hospital (Xi'an Fourth Hospital), Xi'an, 710004, Shanxi, China.
Hui ZhangDepartment of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, 650031, Yunnan, China.
Wenjin ZouDepartment of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China.
Jiaoyue HuFujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen University affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Eye Regenerative Medicine, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Zhiming LuoDepartment of Artificial Intelligence, School of Informatics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, Fujian, China. zhiming.luo@xmu.edu.cn.
Zuguo LiuFujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen University affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Eye Regenerative Medicine, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, School of Medicine of Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China. zuguoliu@xmu.edu.cn.

Funding

the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China 82530034the National Natural Science Foundation of China 82271054
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAnterior segment diseases are a major global cause of preventable blindness, especially in regions with limited access to specialized ophthalmic care. Diagnosis typically requires slit-lamp biomicroscopy, creating a significant access bottleneck in primary care and rural settings. Existing AI solutions often lack the efficiency and generalizability necessary for widespread mobile deployment and primarily focus on individual conditions, failing to meet the demand for scalable, multi-disease screening platforms.

methodsWe developed the Intelligent Detection System (IDS), a smartphone-compatible AI platform for real-time, automated, multi-disease screening of anterior segment diseases. The core model, Eye-YOLO, is a novel, lightweight deep learning model optimized for standard smartphone images. IDS integrates image quality assessment and urgency classification. The model was rigorously trained on a large, heterogeneous multi-center dataset of 24,671 images (comprising 17,853 slit-lamp and 6,818 smartphone images) collected from three tertiary hospitals in China. IDS was prospectively deployed and validated via a widely accessible WeChat Mini Program for community screening.

resultsEye-YOLO achieved a mean average precision of 0.816 with an exceptionally compact architecture (2.77 million parameters and 7.3G FLOPs), enabling real-time inference at 131 FPS on mobile devices. In controlled testing, IDS demonstrated high diagnostic performance (93.50% accuracy; AUC = 0.9837) with consistent performance across multiple smartphone brands (AUC > 0.95). Crucially, with AI assistance, junior ophthalmologists achieved an accuracy of 93.79% (AUC 0.8984), compared with 95.79% for senior experts. In real-world external validation via the WeChat Mini Program, IDS achieved 98.25% accuracy.

conclusionsIDS provides a highly efficient, robust, and globally scalable framework for multi-disease anterior segment screening using ubiquitous smartphone technology. Its deployment through a widely accessible mobile platform offers a promising public health solution that facilitates early detection and triage, with the potential to improve access to ophthalmic care between specialized centers and primary care settings.

trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR2200060808.

Indexed as

Anterior Eye SegmentEye DiseasesMass ScreeningSmartphoneChinaDeep LearningHumansIntelligent SystemsAnterior segment imageArtificial intelligenceDeep learningOphthalmic screening

Identifiers

PMID42098713
PMCPMC13334931

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.