Automated recognition of lung diseases in CT images based on the optimum-path forest classifier

The World Health Organization estimated that around 300 million people have asthma, and 210 million people are affected by Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Also, it is estimated that the number of deaths from COPD increased 30% in 2015 and COPD will become the third major cause of death worldwide by 2030. These statistics about lung diseases get worse when one considers fibrosis, calcifications and other diseases. For the public health system, the early and accurate diagnosis of any pulmonary disease is mandatory for effective treatments and prevention of further deaths. In this sense, this work consists in using information from lung images to identify and classify lung diseases. Two steps are required to achieve these goals: automatically extraction of representative image features of the lungs and recognition of the possible disease using a computational classifier. As to the first step, this work proposes an approach that combines Spatial Interdependence Matrix (SIM) and Visual Information Fidelity (VIF). Concerning the second step, we propose to employ a Gaussian-based distance to be used together with the optimum-path forest (OPF) classifier to classify the lungs under study as normal or with fibrosis, or even affected by COPD. Moreover, to confirm the robustness of OPF in this classification problem, we also considered Support Vector Machines and a Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network for comparison purposes. Overall, the results confirmed the good performance of the OPF configured with the Gaussian distance when applied to SIM- and VIF-based features. The performance scores achieved by the OPF classifier were as follows: average accuracy of 98.2%, total processing time of 117 microseconds in a common personal laptop, and F-score of 95.2% for the three classification classes. These results showed that OPF is a very competitive classifier, and suitable to be used for lung disease classification

Automatic 3D pulmonary nodule detection in CT images: a survey

This work presents a systematic review of techniques for the 3D automatic detection of pulmonary nodules in computerized-tomography (CT) images. Its main goals are to analyze the latest technology being used for the development of computational diagnostic tools to assist in the acquisition, storage and, mainly, processing and analysis of the biomedical data. Also, this work identifies the progress made, so far, evaluates the challenges to be overcome and provides an analysis of future prospects. As far as the authors know, this is the first time that a review is devoted exclusively to automated 3D techniques for the detection of pulmonary nodules from lung CT images, which makes this work of noteworthy value. The research covered the published works in the Web of Science, PubMed, Science Direct and IEEEXplore up to December 2014. Each work found that referred to automated 3D segmentation of the lungs was individually analyzed to identify its objective, methodology and results. Based on the analysis of the selected works, several studies were seen to be useful for the construction of medical diagnostic aid tools. However, there are certain aspects that still require attention such as increasing algorithm sensitivity, reducing the number of false positives, improving and optimizing the algorithm detection of different kinds of nodules with different sizes and shapes and, finally, the ability to integrate with the Electronic Medical Record Systems and Picture Archiving and Communication Systems. Based on this analysis, we can say that further research is needed to develop current techniques and that new algorithms are needed to overcome the identified drawbacks

Augmented MRI Images for Classification of Normal and Tumors Brain through Transfer Learning Techniques

A brain tumor is a severe malignant condition caused by uncontrolled and abnormal cell division. Recent advances in deep learning have aided the health business in Medical Imaging for the diagnosis of numerous disorders. The most frequent and widely used deep learning algorithm for visual learning and image recognition. This research seeks to multi-classification tumors in the brain from images attained by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) using deep learning models that have been pre-trained for transfer learning. As per the publicly available MRI brain tumor dataset, brain tumors identified as glioma, meningioma, and pituitary, are accounting for most brain tumors. To ensure the robustness of the suggested method, data acquisition, and preprocessing are performed in the first step followed by data augmentation. Finally, Transfer Learning algorithms including DenseNet, ResNetV2, and InceptionResNetv2 have been applied to find out the optimum algorithm based on various parameters including accuracy, precision, and recall, and are under the curve (AUC). The experimental outcomes show that the model’s validation accuracy is high for DenseNet (about 97%), while ResNetv2 and InceptionResNetv2 achieved 77% and 80% only

Whale Optimization Algorithm with Fuzzy Wavelet Neural Network for Pneumonia Detection and Classification

Pneumonia detection and classification are a vital medical imaging task that purposes to automatically recognize and classify pneumonia-related abnormalities in chest radiographs or Chest X-Ray (CXR) imaging. Accurate and prior identification of pneumonia is important for suitable treatment and recovering patient results. The main drive is to recognize whether an X-ray image indicates the presence of pneumonia or not. A binary classification techniuqe is trained to distinguish normal and pneumonia X-rays. Deep Learning (DL) approaches are revealed major success in automating this process, assisting healthcare specialists in analyzing pneumonia more effectively. This article presents a Whale Optimization Algorithm with Fuzzy Wavelet Neural Network for Pneumonia Detection and Classification (WOAFWNN-PDC) technique on CXRs. The purpose of the WOAFWNN-PDC technique is to apply optimal DL approaches for the recognition and classification of pneumonia. In the presented WOAFWNN-PDC technique, Gaussian Filtering (GF) approach is used for the noise removal process. In addition, the MobileNetv3 model is utilized for the feature extraction method. Moreover, the FWNN technique was applied to the classification of pneumonia. Finally, the WOA can be executed for an optimum selection of the parameters related to the FWNN approach. The simulation value of the WOAFWNN-PDC algorithm was assessed on a benchmark medical database. The comparative analysis exhibits better results than the WOAFWNN-PDC technique

Computational methods for the analysis of functional 4D-CT chest images.

Medical imaging is an important emerging technology that has been intensively used in the last few decades for disease diagnosis and monitoring as well as for the assessment of treatment effectiveness. Medical images provide a very large amount of valuable information that is too huge to be exploited by radiologists and physicians. Therefore, the design of computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) system, which can be used as an assistive tool for the medical community, is of a great importance. This dissertation deals with the development of a complete CAD system for lung cancer patients, which remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in the USA. In 2014, there were approximately 224,210 new cases of lung cancer and 159,260 related deaths. The process begins with the detection of lung cancer which is detected through the diagnosis of lung nodules (a manifestation of lung cancer). These nodules are approximately spherical regions of primarily high density tissue that are visible in computed tomography (CT) images of the lung. The treatment of these lung cancer nodules is complex, nearly 70% of lung cancer patients require radiation therapy as part of their treatment. Radiation-induced lung injury is a limiting toxicity that may decrease cure rates and increase morbidity and mortality treatment. By finding ways to accurately detect, at early stage, and hence prevent lung injury, it will have significant positive consequences for lung cancer patients. The ultimate goal of this dissertation is to develop a clinically usable CAD system that can improve the sensitivity and specificity of early detection of radiation-induced lung injury based on the hypotheses that radiated lung tissues may get affected and suffer decrease of their functionality as a side effect of radiation therapy treatment. These hypotheses have been validated by demonstrating that automatic segmentation of the lung regions and registration of consecutive respiratory phases to estimate their elasticity, ventilation, and texture features to provide discriminatory descriptors that can be used for early detection of radiation-induced lung injury. The proposed methodologies will lead to novel indexes for distinguishing normal/healthy and injured lung tissues in clinical decision-making. To achieve this goal, a CAD system for accurate detection of radiation-induced lung injury that requires three basic components has been developed. These components are the lung fields segmentation, lung registration, and features extraction and tissue classification. This dissertation starts with an exploration of the available medical imaging modalities to present the importance of medical imaging in today’s clinical applications. Secondly, the methodologies, challenges, and limitations of recent CAD systems for lung cancer detection are covered. This is followed by introducing an accurate segmentation methodology of the lung parenchyma with the focus of pathological lungs to extract the volume of interest (VOI) to be analyzed for potential existence of lung injuries stemmed from the radiation therapy. After the segmentation of the VOI, a lung registration framework is introduced to perform a crucial and important step that ensures the co-alignment of the intra-patient scans. This step eliminates the effects of orientation differences, motion, breathing, heart beats, and differences in scanning parameters to be able to accurately extract the functionality features for the lung fields. The developed registration framework also helps in the evaluation and gated control of the radiotherapy through the motion estimation analysis before and after the therapy dose. Finally, the radiation-induced lung injury is introduced, which combines the previous two medical image processing and analysis steps with the features estimation and classification step. This framework estimates and combines both texture and functional features. The texture features are modeled using the novel 7th-order Markov Gibbs random field (MGRF) model that has the ability to accurately models the texture of healthy and injured lung tissues through simultaneously accounting for both vertical and horizontal relative dependencies between voxel-wise signals. While the functionality features calculations are based on the calculated deformation fields, obtained from the 4D-CT lung registration, that maps lung voxels between successive CT scans in the respiratory cycle. These functionality features describe the ventilation, the air flow rate, of the lung tissues using the Jacobian of the deformation field and the tissues’ elasticity using the strain components calculated from the gradient of the deformation field. Finally, these features are combined in the classification model to detect the injured parts of the lung at an early stage and enables an earlier intervention

Machine Learning for Biomedical Application

Biomedicine is a multidisciplinary branch of medical science that consists of many scientific disciplines, e.g., biology, biotechnology, bioinformatics, and genetics; moreover, it covers various medical specialties. In recent years, this field of science has developed rapidly. This means that a large amount of data has been generated, due to (among other reasons) the processing, analysis, and recognition of a wide range of biomedical signals and images obtained through increasingly advanced medical imaging devices. The analysis of these data requires the use of advanced IT methods, which include those related to the use of artificial intelligence, and in particular machine learning. It is a summary of the Special Issue “Machine Learning for Biomedical Application”, briefly outlining selected applications of machine learning in the processing, analysis, and recognition of biomedical data, mostly regarding biosignals and medical images

Machine learning for brain stroke: a review

Machine Learning (ML) delivers an accurate and quick prediction outcome and it has become a powerful tool in health settings, offering personalized clinical care for stroke patients. An application of ML and Deep Learning in health care is growing however, some research areas do not catch enough attention for scientific investigation though there is real need of research. Therefore, the aim of this work is to classify state-of-arts on ML techniques for brain stroke into 4 categories based on their functionalities or similarity, and then review studies of each category systematically. A total of 39 studies were identified from the results of ScienceDirect web scientific database on ML for brain stroke from the year 2007 to 2019. Support Vector Machine (SVM) is obtained as optimal models in 10 studies for stroke problems. Besides, maximum studies are found in stroke diagnosis although number for stroke treatment is least thus, it identifies a research gap for further investigation. Similarly, CT images are a frequently used dataset in stroke. Finally SVM and Random Forests are efficient techniques used under each category. The present study showcases the contribution of various ML approaches applied to brain stroke.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lung Nodule Detectability of Artificial Intelligence-assisted CT Image Reading in Lung Cancer Screening

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI)-based automatic lung nodule detection system improves the detection rate of nodules. It is important to evaluate the clinical value of AI system by comparing AI-assisted nodule detection with actu-al radiology reports. OBJECTIVE: To compare the detection rate of lung nodules between the actual radiology reports and AI-assisted reading in lung cancer CT screening. METHODS: Participants in chest CT screening from November to December 2019 were retrospectively included. In the real-world radiologist observation, 14 residents and 15 radiologists participated to finalize radiology reports. In AI-assisted reading, one resident and one radiologist reevaluated all subjects with the assistance of an AI system to lo-cate and measure the detected lung nodules. A reading panel determined the type and number of detected lung nodules between these two methods. RESULTS: In 860 participants (57±7 years), the reading panel confirmed 250 patients with >1 solid nodule, while radiolo-gists observed 131, lower than 247 by AI-assisted reading (p1 non-solid nodule, whereas radiologist observation identified 28, lower than 110 by AI-assisted reading (p<0.001). The accuracy and sensitivity of radiologist observation for solid nodules were 86.2% and 52.4%, lower than 99.1% and 98.8% by AI-assisted reading, respectively. These metrics were 90.4% and 25.2% for non-solid nodules, lower than 98.8% and 99.1% by AI-assisted reading, respectively. CONCLUSION: Comparing with the actual radiology reports, AI-assisted reading greatly improves the accuracy and sensi-tivity of nodule detection in chest CT, which benefits lung nodule detection, especially for non-solid nodules