IIT-Gandhinagar develops AI-based COVID-19 detector using chest X-rays

NEW DELHI: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Gandhinagar have developed an artificial intelligence-based deep learning tool for detection of COVID-19 from chest X-ray images.

The online tool, which indicates the probability if a person is infected with COVID-19, can be used for quick preliminary diagnosis before the medical test. It is being tested by the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH).

"Given the limited testing facilities for COVID-19, there is a rush to develop AI tools for quick analysis using X-rays. Developing a reliable tool requires a combination of right algorithms and data. This is where our tool would prove useful, that can be trained for diagnostic purposes and made available for wider use," Kushpal Singh Yadav, an MTech student at IIT’s department of computer science engineering, said.

The IIT researchers pooled the data of X-ray images of COVID-19 infected patients as well as healthy persons from different sources available on the internet. They trained a machine learning architecture using deep learning algorithms with these images.

"The model that we used has 12 layers of neural network, which is similar to the neurons in the human brain. The deep learning method has the advantage that it learns the disease diagnosing features from the X-ray images in an automatic way.

Our tool also uses images from other lung infections such as tuberculosis, pneumonia to ensure the specificity of detection of COVID from other lung diseases," Yadav explained.

Researchers at Princeton University in the US had also recently come up with an AI-based tool for COVID-19 detection. Krishna Prasad Miyapuram, the associate professor of cognitive science and computer science, who supervised the IIT project claimed that the tool outperforms other such high-tech devices available globally.

"Moreover, it uses simple machine learning architecture, which makes it stand out over others. However, the tool is only indicative and clinical consultation is essential to confirm the diagnosis but it can really help reduce the burden on our medical infrastructure at present," he said.

A single-day spike of 19,459 COVID-19 cases took India's tally to 5,48,318 on Monday, while the death toll climbed to 16,475 with 380 new fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data. This is the sixth consecutive day that coronavirus infections have increased by more than 15,000. The country has seen a surge of 3,57,783 infections from June 1 till date.

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