Deep convolutional network-based chest radiographs screening model for pneumoconiosis

Background Pneumoconiosis is the most important occupational disease all over the world, with high prevalence and mortality. At present, the monitoring of workers exposed to dust and the diagnosis of pneumoconiosis rely on manual interpretation of chest radiographs, which is subjective and low efficiency. With the development of artificial intelligence technology, a more objective and efficient computer aided system for pneumoconiosis diagnosis can be realized. Therefore, the present study reported a novel deep learning (DL) artificial intelligence (AI) system for detecting pneumoconiosis in digital frontal chest radiographs, based on which we aimed to provide references for radiologists.Methods We annotated 49,872 chest radiographs from patients with pneumoconiosis and workers exposed to dust using a self-developed tool. Next, we used the labeled images to train a convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithm developed for pneumoconiosis screening. Finally, the performance of the trained pneumoconiosis screening model was validated using a validation set containing 495 chest radiographs.Results Approximately, 51% (25,435/49,872) of the chest radiographs were labeled as normal. Pneumoconiosis was detected in 49% (24,437/49,872) of the labeled radiographs, among which category-1, category-2, and category-3 pneumoconiosis accounted for 53.1% (12,967/24,437), 20.4% (4,987/24,437), and 26.5% (6,483/24,437) of the patients, respectively. The CNN DL algorithm was trained using these data. The validation set of 495 digital radiography chest radiographs included 261 cases of pneumoconiosis and 234 cases of non-pneumoconiosis. As a result, the accuracy of the AI system for pneumoconiosis identification was 95%, the area under the curve was 94.7%, and the sensitivity was 100%.Conclusion DL algorithm based on CNN helped screen pneumoconiosis in the chest radiographs with high performance; thus, it could be suitable for diagnosing pneumoconiosis automatically and improve the efficiency of radiologists.