Boundary Preserving with Attention-Guided Filtering Network for Retinal Vessel Segmentation

Authors

  • Zhihui Liu ᵃFaculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; ᵇMedia and Game Innovation Centre of Excellence, Institute of Human Centered Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • Mohd Shahrizal Sunar ᵃFaculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; ᵇMedia and Game Innovation Centre of Excellence, Institute of Human Centered Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • Tian Swee tan ᶜDepartment of Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; ᵈIJN-UTM Cardiovascular Engineering Centre, Institute of Human Centered Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • Wan Hazabbah Wan Hitam Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Science, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11113/mjfas.v22n2.4949

Keywords:

Retinal vessel segmentation, deep learning, U-Net, attention guided filtering, medical image analysis

Abstract

Accurate segmentation of retinal vessels is critical for the early detection of vision-threatening diseases. Although U-Net-based methods have shown strong performance, they often fail to capture thin vessels and preserve boundary details due to repeated downsampling. To overcome these limitations, we propose an enhanced U-shaped network that incorporates a multi-scale attention guided filtering module, allowing the model to retain edge details and suppress noise more effectively. Experiments conducted on the DRIVE, STARE, CHASE_DB1, and HRF datasets demonstrate that the proposed method consistently achieves the best results across multiple metrics. The improvements in F1 score and sensitivity confirm its capability to recover fine vascular structures and its potential for clinical application.

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Published

29-04-2026

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