Artificial Intelligence for COVID-19 chest X-ray diagnosis
The DeepPathCOVIDx project will allow to develop of a solution that will assist healthcare professionals in the analysis of chest X-ray images.
A team of researchers from Técnico and INESC-ID, in collaboration with Hospital da Luz Learning Health, is developing a solution consisting of AI models for the analysis of chest radiography of patients suspected of having COVID-19, in an emergency context.
Besides causing cough, fever and fatigue, the SARS-CoV-2 virus can cause acute upper tract infection. Identifying these clinical cases and prevent worsening clinical conditions is crucial to reduce pandemic deaths. Conventional chest radiography allows the assessment of infection and, consequently, the strategy of monitoring and treating the patient. Chest X-rays can also be used as a complementary diagnostic method, although they are not part of the official protocol.
Thus, the creation of AI models to identify radiological characteristics of COVID-19 in chest X-ray images allows, together with other clinical information, to help in the decision-making for suspected cases of COVID-19, being an important and useful tool to support the work of healthcare professionals. “The main purpose of this tool is to be able to detect, autonomously, and with a high degree of certainty, COVID-19 on chest X-rays and how severe the disease is”, explains Arlindo Oliveira, Técnico professor and Principal Investigator of the project.
This tool aims to optimize the work of radiologists, identifying and prioritizing the x-rays of suspected COVID-19 patients in the work list, to assist doctors in an emergency context when radiologists are not available, with a tool for analyzing radiographs, and to increase efficiency in an emergency context, facilitating professionals’ decision making.
The system is currently being tested “with data from Hospital da Luz and Hospital Beatriz Ângelo”, shares by professor Arlindo Oliveira. “The data provided by our partners will allow us to test the accuracy of the model. If we succeed, it will be included in hospital admissions”, explains professor Arlindo Oliveira.
The project’s feasibility study should be completed in a few months. The next phase will go through the implementation of the tool in a hospital. Although this phase no longer relies on the research team, professor Arlindo Oliveira believes that “it may be operational a few months after the demonstration is finished”.
The multidisciplinary team consists of Técnico/INESC-ID researchers in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence, radiologists, ER doctors at Hospital da Luz Lisboa and Hospital Beatriz Ângelo, human factors and ergonomics experts, information systems experts and managers. DeepPathCOVIDx was one of the projects funded bythe Portugal 2020 programme. The results will be announced in the first half of this year.
According to professor Arlindo Oliveira “the collaboration between engineering and medicine is always very fruitful and will play an essential role in medical advances”.
Source: Técnico
Upcoming Events
Educational Workshop on Responsible AI for Peace and Security (UNODA)
On June 6 and 7, The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) are offering a selected group of technical students the opportunity to join a 2-day educational workshop on Responsible AI for peace and security.
The third workshop in the series will be held in Porto Salvo, Portugal, in collaboration with GAIPS, INESC-ID, and Instituto Superior Técnico. The workshop is open to students affiliated with universities in Europe, Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa, Oceania, and Asia.
Date & Time: June 6 a 7
Where: IST – Tagus Park, Porto Salvo
Registration deadline: April 8
Summary: “As with the impacts of Artificial intelligence (AI) on people’s day-to-day lives, the impacts for international peace and security include wide-ranging and significant opportunities and challenges. AI can help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but its dual-use nature means that peaceful applications can also be misused for harmful purposes such as political disinformation, cyberattacks, terrorism, or military operations. Meanwhile, those researching and developing AI in the civilian sector remain too often unaware of the risks that the misuse of civilian AI technology may pose to international peace and security and unsure about the role they can play in addressing them. Against this background, UNODA and SIPRI launched, in 2023, a three-year educational initiative on Promoting Responsible Innovation in AI for Peace and Security. The initiative, which is supported by the Council of the European Union, aims to support greater engagement of the civilian AI community in mitigating the unintended consequences of civilian AI research and innovation for peace and security. As part of that initiative, SIPRI and UNODA are organising a series of capacity building workshops for STEM students (at PhD and Master levels). These workshops aim to provide the opportunity for up-and-coming AI practitioners to work together and with experts to learn about a) how peaceful AI research and innovation may generate risks for international peace and security; b) how they could help prevent or mitigate those risks through responsible research and innovation; c) how they could support the promotion of responsible AI for peace and security.”