{"ID":2826800,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.22197","arxiv_id":"2512.22197","title":"Quadrant Segmentation VLM with Few-Shot Adaptation and OCT Learning-based Explainability Methods for Diabetic Retinopathy","abstract":"Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of vision loss worldwide, requiring early detection to preserve sight. Limited access to physicians often leaves DR undiagnosed. To address this, AI models utilize lesion segmentation for interpretability; however, manually annotating lesions is impractical for clinicians. Physicians require a model that explains the reasoning for classifications rather than just highlighting lesion locations. Furthermore, current models are one-dimensional, relying on a single imaging modality for explainability and achieving limited effectiveness. In contrast, a quantitative-detection system that identifies individual DR lesions in natural language would overcome these limitations, enabling diverse applications in screening, treatment, and research settings. To address this issue, this paper presents a novel multimodal explainability model utilizing a VLM with few-shot learning, which mimics an ophthalmologist's reasoning by analyzing lesion distributions within retinal quadrants for fundus images. The model generates paired Grad-CAM heatmaps, showcasing individual neuron weights across both OCT and fundus images, which visually highlight the regions contributing to DR severity classification. Using a dataset of 3,000 fundus images and 1,000 OCT images, this innovative methodology addresses key limitations in current DR diagnostics, offering a practical and comprehensive tool for improving patient outcomes.","short_abstract":"Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of vision loss worldwide, requiring early detection to preserve sight. Limited access to physicians often leaves DR undiagnosed. To address this, AI models utilize lesion segmentation for interpretability; however, manually annotating lesions is impractical for clinicians. P...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.22197","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2512.22197v1","authors":"[\"Shivum Telang\"]","published":"2025-12-20T17:45:33Z","proceeding":"cs.CV","tasks":"[\"cs.CV\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}