Machine learning and AI aided tool to differentiate COVID 19 and non-COVID 19 lung CXR

One of the main challenges in dealing with the current COVID 19 pandemic is how to detect and distinguish between the COVID 19 and non COVID 19 cases. This problem arises since COVID 19 symptoms resemble with other cases. One of the golden standards is by examining the lung using the chest X ray radiograph (CXR). Currently there is growing COVID 19 cases followed by the CXR images waiting to be analyzed and this may outnumber the health capacity. Learning from that current situation and to fulfill the demand for CXRs analysis, a novel solution is required. The tool is expected can detect and distinguish the COVID 19 case lung rely on CXR. Respectively, this study aims to propose the use of AI and machine learning aided tool to distinguish the COVID 19 and non COVID 19 cases based on the CXR lung image. The compared non COVID 19 CXR cases in this study include normal (healthy), influenza A, tuberculosis, and active smoker. The results confirm that the machine learning tool is able to distinguish the COVID 19 CXR lungs based on lung consolidation. Moreover, the tool is also able to recognize an abnormality of COVID 19 lung in the form of patchy ground glass opacity.

To conclude, AI and machine learning may be considered as a detection tool to identify and distinguish between COVID 19 and non COVID 19 cases in particular epidemic areas.