An externally validated fully automated deep learning algorithm to classify COVID-19 and other pneumonias on chest computed tomography

Purpose In this study, we propose an artificial intelligence (AI) framework based on three-dimensional convolutional neural networks to classify computed tomography (CT) scans of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), influenza/community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), and no infection, after...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Akshayaa Vaidyanathan, Julien Guiot, Fadila Zerka, Flore Belmans, Ingrid Van Peufflik, Louis Deprez, Denis Danthine, Gregory Canivet, Philippe Lambin, Sean Walsh, Mariaelena Occhipinti, Paul Meunier, Wim Vos, Pierre Lovinfosse, Ralph T.H. Leijenaar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Respiratory Society 2022-05-01
Series:ERJ Open Research
Online Access:http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/8/2/00579-2021.full
Description
Summary:Purpose In this study, we propose an artificial intelligence (AI) framework based on three-dimensional convolutional neural networks to classify computed tomography (CT) scans of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), influenza/community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), and no infection, after automatic segmentation of the lungs and lung abnormalities. Methods The AI classification model is based on inflated three-dimensional Inception architecture and was trained and validated on retrospective data of CT images of 667 adult patients (no infection n=188, COVID-19 n=230, influenza/CAP n=249) and 210 adult patients (no infection n=70, COVID-19 n=70, influenza/CAP n=70), respectively. The model's performance was independently evaluated on an internal test set of 273 adult patients (no infection n=55, COVID-19 n= 94, influenza/CAP n=124) and an external validation set from a different centre (305 adult patients: COVID-19 n=169, no infection n=76, influenza/CAP n=60). Results The model showed excellent performance in the external validation set with area under the curve of 0.90, 0.92 and 0.92 for COVID-19, influenza/CAP and no infection, respectively. The selection of the input slices based on automatic segmentation of the abnormalities in the lung reduces analysis time (56 s per scan) and computational burden of the model. The Transparent Reporting of a Multivariable Prediction Model for Individual Prognosis or Diagnosis (TRIPOD) score of the proposed model is 47% (15 out of 32 TRIPOD items). Conclusion This AI solution provides rapid and accurate diagnosis in patients suspected of COVID-19 infection and influenza.
ISSN:2312-0541