[net.ai] An expert system for reading chest radiographs

bill@ur-laser.UUCP (Bill Lampeter) (04/04/84)

I have developed an "expert" system that analyzes chest  ra-
diographs  for  tumors.   This system was tested on 37 films
that contain nodules.  It is capable of finding the  nodules
in  92%  of the films.  In studies of mass screenings of ra-
diographs by radiologists it was found that the radiologists
miss  25-30%  of  all nodules < 1cm. A Rib Expert determines
whether a candidate nodule (possible tumor) is a rib. A  No-
dule Expert, a linear-discriminant-based pattern recognizer,
classifies candidate nodules. All candidate nodules that are
classified as any type of nodule are presented to a radiolo-
gist for further inspection.  Radiologists can recognize no-
dules  as  such  once  they are pointed-out.  If you are in-
terested in this work or want leads to other methods of  au-
tomated  chest  film  analysis,  which are listed in the bi-
bliographies, contact Peggy Meeker ((716)275-7737, {allegra,
seismo}!rochester!peg)  at  the Computer Science Dept at the
University of Rochester and request the following TRs:

Lampeter, W.A.  "Design, tuning, and performance  evaluation
of an automated pulmonary nodule detection system."  TR-120,
Computer Science Department, University  of  Rochester,  Ro-
chester NY, 1983.

Lampeter, W.A.  "Three image experts which help  distinguish
tumors  from  non-tumors,"  TR-123, Computer Science Depart-
ment, University of Rochester, Rochester NY, 1984.

Other works of possible interest:

Ballard, D. H., J. Sklansky.   "Tumor  detection  in  radio-
graphs,"   Computers  in  Biomedical  Research,  6, 299-321,
1973.

Jagoe, J.R., "Reading chest radiographs  for  pneumoconiosis
by computer," Brit. J. Ind. Med., 32, 267-272, 1975.

Toriwaki, J. et.al. Pattern recognition of chest  x-ray  im-
ages. Comp Grap Pat Recog, 2, 252-271, 1973.



Bill Lampeter
Department of Radiology
School of Medicine and Dentistry
University of Rochester
(716) 275-5101 or (716) 275-3194
{seismo, allegra}!rochester!ur-laser!bill