GARD: Gamma-based Anatomical Restoration and Denoising for Retinal OCT

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Fazekas, Botond, Pinetz, Thomas, Aresta, Guilherme, Emre, Taha, Bogunovic, Hrvoje
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Fazekas, Botond
Pinetz, Thomas
Aresta, Guilherme
Emre, Taha
Bogunovic, Hrvoje
author_facet Fazekas, Botond
Pinetz, Thomas
Aresta, Guilherme
Emre, Taha
Bogunovic, Hrvoje
contents Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a vital imaging modality for diagnosing and monitoring retinal diseases. However, OCT images are inherently degraded by speckle noise, which obscures fine details and hinders accurate interpretation. While numerous denoising methods exist, many struggle to balance noise reduction with the preservation of crucial anatomical structures. This paper introduces GARD (Gamma-based Anatomical Restoration and Denoising), a novel deep learning approach for OCT image despeckling that leverages the strengths of diffusion probabilistic models. Unlike conventional diffusion models that assume Gaussian noise, GARD employs a Denoising Diffusion Gamma Model to more accurately reflect the statistical properties of speckle. Furthermore, we introduce a Noise-Reduced Fidelity Term that utilizes a pre-processed, less-noisy image to guide the denoising process. This crucial addition prevents the reintroduction of high-frequency noise. We accelerate the inference process by adapting the Denoising Diffusion Implicit Model framework to our Gamma-based model. Experiments on a dataset with paired noisy and less-noisy OCT B-scans demonstrate that GARD significantly outperforms traditional denoising methods and state-of-the-art deep learning models in terms of PSNR, SSIM, and MSE. Qualitative results confirm that GARD produces sharper edges and better preserves fine anatomical details.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_10341
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle GARD: Gamma-based Anatomical Restoration and Denoising for Retinal OCT
Fazekas, Botond
Pinetz, Thomas
Aresta, Guilherme
Emre, Taha
Bogunovic, Hrvoje
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a vital imaging modality for diagnosing and monitoring retinal diseases. However, OCT images are inherently degraded by speckle noise, which obscures fine details and hinders accurate interpretation. While numerous denoising methods exist, many struggle to balance noise reduction with the preservation of crucial anatomical structures. This paper introduces GARD (Gamma-based Anatomical Restoration and Denoising), a novel deep learning approach for OCT image despeckling that leverages the strengths of diffusion probabilistic models. Unlike conventional diffusion models that assume Gaussian noise, GARD employs a Denoising Diffusion Gamma Model to more accurately reflect the statistical properties of speckle. Furthermore, we introduce a Noise-Reduced Fidelity Term that utilizes a pre-processed, less-noisy image to guide the denoising process. This crucial addition prevents the reintroduction of high-frequency noise. We accelerate the inference process by adapting the Denoising Diffusion Implicit Model framework to our Gamma-based model. Experiments on a dataset with paired noisy and less-noisy OCT B-scans demonstrate that GARD significantly outperforms traditional denoising methods and state-of-the-art deep learning models in terms of PSNR, SSIM, and MSE. Qualitative results confirm that GARD produces sharper edges and better preserves fine anatomical details.
title GARD: Gamma-based Anatomical Restoration and Denoising for Retinal OCT
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10341