UC San Diego recently announced that its health radiologists and other physicians are now leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to augment lung-imaging analysis in a clinical research study aimed at COVID-19 lung imaging analysis.
The cause of death for most COVID-19 patients is pneumonia, which often requires long hospital stays in intensive care units and assistance breathing with ventilators.
Last year, Albert Hsiao, MD, PhD, associate professor of radiology at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and radiologists at UC San Diego Health, and his team, developed a machine learning algorithm that allowed radiologists to use AI to enhance their own abilities to spot pneumonia on chest X-rays.
The algorithm was trained with 22,000 notations by radiologists and overlays X-rays with color-coded maps that indicate pneumonia probability, researchers explained.
“Pneumonia can be subtle, especially if it’s not your average bacterial pneumonia, and if we could identify those patients early, before you can even detect it with a stethoscope, we might be better positioned to treat those at highest risk for severe disease and death,” Hsiao said.
The AI algorithm was most recently applied to 10 chest X-rays from five patients treated in China and the US for COVID-19.
Although the images were taken at several different hospitals and varied significantly in technique, contrast, and resolution, the algorithm consistently localized areas of pneumonia.
The study, enabled by Amazon Web Services (AWS), allows for Hsiao’s AI method to be deployed across UC San Diego Health in a clinical research study that allows any physician and radiologist to get a quick estimate regarding a patient’s likelihood of having pneumonia.
“AWS has partnered with us on multiple projects in the past,” Michael Hogarth, MD, professor of biomedical informatics at UC San Diego School of Medicine and clinical research information officer at UC San Diego Health, said in a statement.
“Once COVID-19 became a crisis, AWS reached out to us and asked if there was anything they could do to help. My mind immediately went to a presentation I’d seen Albert give on their initial AI tests for pneumonia,” he added.“AWS helped our Clinical Research IT team get the study up and running system-wide in just 10 days.”
So far, the new AI capabilities have provided UC San Diego Health physicians with insights to more than 2,000 images.
Image Credit: Thinkstock
Thanks to Heinz V. Hoenen. Follow him on twitter: @HeinzVHoenen
News This Week
Research finds a potential new ‘silver bullet’ nanoparticle to treat brain cancer
ANSTO has contributed to a comprehensive investigation of a promising type of nanoparticle that could potentially be used for intractable brain cancers in a combined therapy. The study, which was led by Dr. Moeava [...]
Trial to study effect of immune system on Covid reinfection
The immune response needed to protect people against reinfection with the coronavirus will be explored in a new human challenge trial, researchers have revealed. Human challenge trials involve deliberately exposing healthy people to a [...]
Duke working on developing flu shot using new CoV vaccine technology
Researchers from Duke University are developing a flu shot with the new technology that was used for two coronavirus vaccines. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna shots use part of the virus's genetic code [...]
Long-acting injectable medicine as potential route to COVID-19 therapy
Researchers from the University of Liverpool have shown the potential of repurposing an existing and cheap drug into a long-acting injectable therapy that could be used to treat Covid-19. In a paper published in the journal Nanoscale, [...]
Superbug killer: New nanotech destroys bacteria and fungal cells
Researchers have developed a new superbug-destroying coating that could be used on wound dressings and implants to prevent and treat potentially deadly bacterial and fungal infections. The material is one of the thinnest antimicrobial [...]
US recommends ‘pause’ for J&J vaccine over clot reports
The U.S. is recommending a "pause" in administration of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to investigate reports of potentially dangerous blood clots. In a joint statement Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control [...]
S. African COVID variant better at bypassing Pfizer/BioNTech jab: Israeli study
The South African coronavirus variant is better at "breaking through" the defences of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine than other forms of the virus, Israeli experts said Sunday. However, one of the authors told AFP that [...]
Artificial intelligence to explore the biomolecular world
EPFL scientists have developed AI-powered nanosensors that let researchers track various kinds of biological molecules without disturbing them. The tiny world of biomolecules is rich in fascinating interactions between a plethora of different agents [...]
Why SARS-CoV-2 replicates better in the upper respiratory tract
A team of researchers from the Institute for Infectious Diseases (IFIK) at the University of Bern and the Federal Institute of Virology and Immunology (IVI) have assessed virus growth and activation of the cellular [...]
Brown University creates first wireless, implanted brain-computer interface
Researchers at Brown University have succeeded in creating the first wireless, implantable, rechargeable, long-term brain-computer interface. The wireless BCIs have been implanted in pigs and monkeys for over 13 months without issue, and human [...]
A New Generation of Vaccines Is Coming, Some With No Needles
The coronavirus outbreak made household names of companies like Moderna Inc. and BioNTech SE, whose shots offered hope for ending the pandemic. Now a new wave of vaccines is on the horizon that may get the [...]
Scientists use nanotechnology to detect bone-healing stem cells
Researchers at the University of Southampton have developed a new way of using nanomaterials to identify and enrich skeletal stem cells—a discovery which could eventually lead to new treatments for major bone fractures and [...]
Biotech start-up working overtime to develop a mutation-resistant Covid-19 vaccine
In March 2020, Hannu Rajaniemi pivoted his biotech company Helix Nanotechnologies' focus from cancer therapies to Covid-19 vaccines. The role biotech start-ups can play in a pandemic Rajaniemi originally co-founded Helix Nanotechnologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts in [...]
Nanotech-powered testing strategy can accelerate global recovery from pandemic
The rapid mass testing strategy costing just £1 a day per child can get children back to school and economies up and running, according to experts. That is the small price of the [...]
Nasal Spray Vaccine Could Be Key to Stopping the Spread of Covid-19
Covid-19 vaccines are incredibly good at preventing severe symptoms and hospitalization, but they’re probably less effective at stopping transmission. To do that, we might need a different kind of vaccine altogether. Because SARS-CoV-2 is [...]
Did coronavirus leak from a lab? These scientists say we shouldn’t rule it out
For many scientists, challenging the idea that SARS-CoV-2 has natural origins is seen as career suicide. But a vocal few say it shouldn't be disregarded or lumped in with conspiracy theories. Nikolai Petrovsky was scrolling [...]
