The new era of artificial intelligence in neuroradiology: current research and promising tools.

Radiology has a number of characteristics that make it an especially suitable medical discipline for early artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. These include having a well-established digital workflow, standardized protocols for image storage, and numerous well-defined interpretive activities. The more than 200 commercial radiologic AI-based products recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to assist radiologists in a number of narrow image-analysis tasks such as image enhancement, workflow triage, and quantification, corroborate this observation. However, in order to leverage AI to boost efficacy and efficiency, and to overcome substantial obstacles to widespread successful clinical use of these products, radiologists should become familiarized with the emerging applications in their particular areas of expertise. In light of this, in this article we survey the existing literature on the application of AI-based techniques in neuroradiology, focusing on conditions such as vascular diseases, epilepsy, and demyelinating and neurodegenerative conditions. We also introduce some of the algorithms behind the applications, briefly discuss a few of the challenges of generalization in the use of AI models in neuroradiology, and skate over the most relevant commercially available solutions adopted in clinical practice. If well designed, AI algorithms have the potential to radically improve radiology, strengthening image analysis, enhancing the value of quantitative imaging techniques, and mitigating diagnostic errors.

A radiologia tem uma série de características que a torna uma disciplina médica especialmente adequada à adoção precoce da inteligência artificial (IA), incluindo um fluxo de trabalho digital bem estabelecido, protocolos padronizados para armazenamento de imagens e inúmeras atividades interpretativas bem definidas. Tal adequação é corroborada pelos mais de 200 produtos radiológicos comerciais baseados em IA recentemente aprovados pelo Food and Drug Administration (FDA) para auxiliar os radiologistas em uma série de tarefas restritas de análise de imagens, como quantificação, triagem de fluxo de trabalho e aprimoramento da qualidade das imagens. Entretanto, para o aumento da eficácia e eficiência da IA, além de uma utilização clínica bem-sucedida dos produtos que utilizam essa tecnologia, os radiologistas devem estar atualizados com as aplicações em suas áreas específicas de atuação. Assim, neste artigo, pesquisamos na literatura existente aplicações baseadas em IA em neurorradiologia, mais especificamente em condições como doenças vasculares, epilepsia, condições desmielinizantes e neurodegenerativas. Também abordamos os principais algoritmos por trás de tais aplicações, discutimos alguns dos desafios na generalização no uso desses modelos e introduzimos as soluções comercialmente disponíveis mais relevantes adotadas na prática clínica. Se cautelosamente desenvolvidos, os algoritmos de IA têm o potencial de melhorar radicalmente a radiologia, aperfeiçoando a análise de imagens, aumentando o valor das técnicas de imagem quantitativas e mitigando erros de diagnóstico.

Validation of a deep learning algorithm for bone age estimation among patients in the city of São Paulo, Brazil / Validação de algoritmo de aprendizado profundo para detecção da idade óssea em pacientes de São Paulo, Brasil

Abstract Objective: To validate a deep learning (DL) model for bone age estimation in individuals in the city of São Paulo, comparing it with the Greulich and Pyle method. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of hand and wrist radiographs obtained for the determination of bone age. The manual analysis was performed by an experienced radiologist. The model used was based on a convolutional neural network that placed third in the 2017 Radiological Society of North America challenge. The mean absolute error (MAE) and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) were calculated for the model versus the radiologist, with comparisons by sex, race, and age. Results: The sample comprised 714 examinations. There was a correlation between the two methods, with a coefficient of determination of 0.94. The MAE of the predictions was 7.68 months, and the RMSE was 10.27 months. There were no statistically significant differences between sexes or among races (p > 0.05). The algorithm overestimated bone age in younger individuals (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Our DL algorithm demonstrated potential for estimating bone age in individuals in the city of São Paulo, regardless of sex and race. However, improvements are needed, particularly in relation to its use in younger patients.

Resumo Objetivo: Validar em indivíduos paulistas um modelo de aprendizado profundo (deep learning - DL) para estimativa da idade óssea, comparando-o com o método de Greulich e Pyle. Materiais e Métodos: Estudo transversal com radiografias de mão e punho para idade óssea. A análise manual foi feita por um radiologista experiente. Foi usado um modelo baseado em uma rede neural convolucional que ficou em terceiro lugar no desafio de 2017 da Radiological Society of North America. Calcularam-se o erro médio absoluto (mean absolute error - MAE) e a raiz do erro médio quadrado (root mean-square error - RMSE) do modelo contra o radiologista, com comparações entre sexo, etnia e idade. Resultados: A amostra compreendia 714 exames. Houve correlação entre ambos os métodos com coeficiente de determinação de 0,94. O MAE das predições foi 7,68 meses e a RMSE foi 10,27 meses. Não houve diferenças estatisticamente significantes entre sexos ou raças (p > 0,05). O algoritmo superestimou a idade óssea nos mais jovens (p = 0,001). Conclusão: O nosso algoritmo de DL demonstrou potencial para estimar a idade óssea em indivíduos paulistas, independentemente do sexo e da raça. Entretanto, há necessidade de aprimoramentos, particularmente em pacientes mais jovens.

Automated prostate multi-regional segmentation in magnetic resonance using fully convolutional neural networks.

OBJECTIVE: Automatic MR imaging segmentation of the prostate provides relevant clinical benefits for prostate cancer evaluation such as calculation of automated PSA density and other critical imaging biomarkers. Further, automated T2-weighted image segmentation of central-transition zone (CZ-TZ), peripheral zone (PZ), and seminal vesicle (SV) can help to evaluate clinically significant cancer following the PI-RADS v2.1 guidelines. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to develop a robust and reproducible CNN-based automatic prostate multi-regional segmentation model using an intercontinental cohort of prostate MRI. METHODS: A heterogeneous database of 243 T2-weighted prostate studies from 7 countries and 10 machines of 3 different vendors, with the CZ-TZ, PZ, and SV regions manually delineated by two experienced radiologists (ground truth), was used to train (n = 123) and test (n = 120) a U-Net-based model with deep supervision using a cyclical learning rate. The performance of the model was evaluated by means of dice similarity coefficient (DSC), among others. Segmentation results with a DSC above 0.7 were considered accurate. RESULTS: The proposed method obtained a DSC of 0.88 ± 0.01, 0.85 ± 0.02, 0.72 ± 0.02, and 0.72 ± 0.02 for the prostate gland, CZ-TZ, PZ, and SV respectively in the 120 studies of the test set when comparing the predicted segmentations with the ground truth. No statistically significant differences were found in the results obtained between manufacturers or continents. CONCLUSION: Prostate multi-regional T2-weighted MR images automatic segmentation can be accurately achieved by U-Net like CNN, generalizable in a highly variable clinical environment with different equipment, acquisition configurations, and population. KEY POINTS: • Deep learning techniques allows the accurate segmentation of the prostate in three different regions on MR T2w images. • Multi-centric database proved the generalization of the CNN model on different institutions across different continents. • CNN models can be used to aid on the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with prostate cancer.

Validation of a deep learning algorithm for bone age estimation among patients in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Objective: To validate a deep learning (DL) model for bone age estimation in individuals in the city of São Paulo, comparing it with the Greulich and Pyle method. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of hand and wrist radiographs obtained for the determination of bone age. The manual analysis was performed by an experienced radiologist. The model used was based on a convolutional neural network that placed third in the 2017 Radiological Society of North America challenge. The mean absolute error (MAE) and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) were calculated for the model versus the radiologist, with comparisons by sex, race, and age. Results: The sample comprised 714 examinations. There was a correlation between the two methods, with a coefficient of determination of 0.94. The MAE of the predictions was 7.68 months, and the RMSE was 10.27 months. There were no statistically significant differences between sexes or among races (p > 0.05). The algorithm overestimated bone age in younger individuals (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Our DL algorithm demonstrated potential for estimating bone age in individuals in the city of São Paulo, regardless of sex and race. However, improvements are needed, particularly in relation to its use in younger patients.

Objetivo: Validar em indivíduos paulistas um modelo de aprendizado profundo (deep learning - DL) para estimativa da idade óssea, comparando-o com o método de Greulich e Pyle. Materiais e Métodos: Estudo transversal com radiografias de mão e punho para idade óssea. A análise manual foi feita por um radiologista experiente. Foi usado um modelo baseado em uma rede neural convolucional que ficou em terceiro lugar no desafio de 2017 da Radiological Society of North America. Calcularam-se o erro médio absoluto (mean absolute error - MAE) e a raiz do erro médio quadrado (root mean-square error - RMSE) do modelo contra o radiologista, com comparações entre sexo, etnia e idade. Resultados: A amostra compreendia 714 exames. Houve correlação entre ambos os métodos com coeficiente de determinação de 0,94. O MAE das predições foi 7,68 meses e a RMSE foi 10,27 meses. Não houve diferenças estatisticamente significantes entre sexos ou raças (p > 0,05). O algoritmo superestimou a idade óssea nos mais jovens (p = 0,001). Conclusão: O nosso algoritmo de DL demonstrou potencial para estimar a idade óssea em indivíduos paulistas, independentemente do sexo e da raça. Entretanto, há necessidade de aprimoramentos, particularmente em pacientes mais jovens.

Forging Connections in Latin America to Advance AI in Radiology.

The 1° Encontro Latino-Americano de IA em Saúde (1st Latin American Meeting on AI in Health) was held during the 2022 Jornada Paulista de Radiologia, the annual radiology meeting in the state of São Paulo. The event was created to foster discussion among Latin American countries about the complexity, challenges, and opportunities in developing and using artificial intelligence (AI) in those countries. Technological improvements in AI have created high expectations in health care. AI is recognized increasingly as a game changer in clinical radiology. To counter the fear that AI would "take over" radiology, the program included activities to educate radiologists. The development of AI in Latin America is in its early days, and although there are some pioneer cases, many regions still lack world-class technological infrastructure and resources. Legislation, regulation, and public policies in data privacy and protection, digital health, and AI are recent advances in many countries. The meeting program was developed with a broad scope, with expertise from different countries, backgrounds, and specialties, with the objective of encompassing all levels of complexity (from basic concepts to advanced techniques), perspectives (clinical, technical, ethical, and business), and specialties (both informatics and data science experts and the usual radiology clinical groups). It was an opportunity to connect with peers from other countries and share lessons learned about AI in health care in different countries and contexts. Keywords: Informatics, Use of AI in Education, Impact of AI on Education, Social Implications © RSNA, 2022.

Artificial intelligence as a tool for diagnosis in digital pathology whole slide images: A systematic review.

Digital pathology had a recent growth, stimulated by the implementation of digital whole slide images (WSIs) in clinical practice, and the pathology field faces shortage of pathologists in the last few years. This scenario created fronts of research applying artificial intelligence (AI) to help pathologists. One of them is the automated diagnosis, helping in the clinical decision support, increasing efficiency and quality of diagnosis. However, the complexity nature of the WSIs requires special treatments to create a reliable AI model for diagnosis. Therefore, we systematically reviewed the literature to analyze and discuss all the methods and results in AI in digital pathology performed in WSIs on H&E stain, investigating the capacity of AI as a diagnostic support tool for the pathologist in the routine real-world scenario. This review analyzes 26 studies, reporting in detail all the best methods to apply AI as a diagnostic tool, as well as the main limitations, and suggests new ideas to improve the AI field in digital pathology as a whole. We hope that this study could lead to a better use of AI as a diagnostic tool in pathology, helping future researchers in the development of new studies and projects.

Clinical Artificial Intelligence Applications in Radiology: Neuro.

Radiologists have been at the forefront of the digitization process in medicine. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a promising area of innovation, particularly in medical imaging. The number of applications of AI in neuroradiology has also grown. This article illustrates some of these applications. This article reviews machine learning challenges related to neuroradiology. The first approval of reimbursement for an AI algorithm by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, covering a stroke software for early detection of large vessel occlusion, is also discussed.

Federated learning for predicting clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19.

Federated learning (FL) is a method used for training artificial intelligence models with data from multiple sources while maintaining data anonymity, thus removing many barriers to data sharing. Here we used data from 20 institutes across the globe to train a FL model, called EXAM (electronic medical record (EMR) chest X-ray AI model), that predicts the future oxygen requirements of symptomatic patients with COVID-19 using inputs of vital signs, laboratory data and chest X-rays. EXAM achieved an average area under the curve (AUC) >0.92 for predicting outcomes at 24 and 72 h from the time of initial presentation to the emergency room, and it provided 16% improvement in average AUC measured across all participating sites and an average increase in generalizability of 38% when compared with models trained at a single site using that site's data. For prediction of mechanical ventilation treatment or death at 24 h at the largest independent test site, EXAM achieved a sensitivity of 0.950 and specificity of 0.882. In this study, FL facilitated rapid data science collaboration without data exchange and generated a model that generalized across heterogeneous, unharmonized datasets for prediction of clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19, setting the stage for the broader use of FL in healthcare.

Machine learning model for predicting severity prognosis in patients infected with COVID-19: Study protocol from COVID-AI Brasil.

The new coronavirus, which began to be called SARS-CoV-2, is a single-stranded RNA beta coronavirus, initially identified in Wuhan (Hubei province, China) and currently spreading across six continents causing a considerable harm to patients, with no specific tools until now to provide prognostic outcomes. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate possible findings on chest CT of patients with signs and symptoms of respiratory syndromes and positive epidemiological factors for COVID-19 infection and to correlate them with the course of the disease. In this sense, it is also expected to develop specific machine learning algorithm for this purpose, through pulmonary segmentation, which can predict possible prognostic factors, through more accurate results. Our alternative hypothesis is that the machine learning model based on clinical, radiological and epidemiological data will be able to predict the severity prognosis of patients infected with COVID-19. We will perform a multicenter retrospective longitudinal study to obtain a large number of cases in a short period of time, for better study validation. Our convenience sample (at least 20 cases for each outcome) will be collected in each center considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. We will evaluate patients who enter the hospital with clinical signs and symptoms of acute respiratory syndrome, from March to May 2020. We will include individuals with signs and symptoms of acute respiratory syndrome, with positive epidemiological history for COVID-19, who have performed a chest computed tomography. We will assess chest CT of these patients and to correlate them with the course of the disease. Primary outcomes:1) Time to hospital discharge; 2) Length of stay in the ICU; 3) orotracheal intubation;4) Development of Acute Respiratory Discomfort Syndrome. Secondary outcomes:1) Sepsis; 2) Hypotension or cardiocirculatory dysfunction requiring the prescription of vasopressors or inotropes; 3) Coagulopathy; 4) Acute Myocardial Infarction; 5) Acute Renal Insufficiency; 6) Death. We will use the AUC and F1-score of these algorithms as the main metrics, and we hope to identify algorithms capable of generalizing their results for each specified primary and secondary outcome.

The RSNA Pediatric Bone Age Machine Learning Challenge.

Purpose The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Pediatric Bone Age Machine Learning Challenge was created to show an application of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) in medical imaging, promote collaboration to catalyze AI model creation, and identify innovators in medical imaging. Materials and Methods The goal of this challenge was to solicit individuals and teams to create an algorithm or model using ML techniques that would accurately determine skeletal age in a curated data set of pediatric hand radiographs. The primary evaluation measure was the mean absolute distance (MAD) in months, which was calculated as the mean of the absolute values of the difference between the model estimates and those of the reference standard, bone age. Results A data set consisting of 14 236 hand radiographs (12 611 training set, 1425 validation set, 200 test set) was made available to registered challenge participants. A total of 260 individuals or teams registered on the Challenge website. A total of 105 submissions were uploaded from 48 unique users during the training, validation, and test phases. Almost all methods used deep neural network techniques based on one or more convolutional neural networks (CNNs). The best five results based on MAD were 4.2, 4.4, 4.4, 4.5, and 4.5 months, respectively. Conclusion The RSNA Pediatric Bone Age Machine Learning Challenge showed how a coordinated approach to solving a medical imaging problem can be successfully conducted. Future ML challenges will catalyze collaboration and development of ML tools and methods that can potentially improve diagnostic accuracy and patient care. © RSNA, 2018 Online supplemental material is available for this article. See also the editorial by Siegel in this issue.