Siriraj Hospital in Thailand Integrates AI

The Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital has announced the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, is Thailand’s oldest and largest healthcare and medical education institution, being established in 1888.

By implementing this AI initiative, medical personnel will be able to detect abnormalities more accurately, diagnose diseases more accurately, and optimize their workflow.

“Detection of centroblast cells in H&E stained whole slide image based on object detection” is a key study that identifies and quantifies centroblast cells using the You Only Look Once (YOLO) model, a state-of-the-art algorithm for detecting objects. According to the progress of the disease, this development is significant for lymphoma grading, facilitating more precise patient classification into stages 1, 2, or 3.

Researchers in this study used 1,669 centroblast cell images from WSIs of five patients to train their AI system in order to improve centroblast cell counting, a process previously carried out manually. A precision of 0.808, a recall of 0.776, a mean average precision (mAP) at 0.5 Intersection over Union (IoU) of 0.800, and a total mAP of 0.647 were achieved by the YOLOv5x6 model.

There are many medical specialties covered by Siriraj Hospital’s AI research, including radiology, internal medicine, pathology, neurology, orthopedics, mental health, ophthalmology, and community healthcare, in addition to centroblast detection. In addition to voice and face recognition for mental health assessment, the CHIVID app is also used to screen for COVID-19 symptoms.

Siriraj Hospital has successfully implemented artificial intelligence in several areas since the initiation of its AI program in 2018-2019. In radiology, the hospital has successfully deployed artificial intelligence to assist in analyzing chest X-rays since 2019, enabling the detection of lung abnormalities and coronary arterial calcification. By automating centroblast cell detection, AI has made life easier for pathologists.

In ophthalmology, AI has also been employed to screen diabetic retinopathy patients at Siriraj Hospital. These advancements demonstrate the hospital’s commitment to leveraging AI technology to improve patient care and diagnostic capabilities.The hospital plans to expand its AI capabilities to include Mammogram and CT Brain analysis by the end of 2024.

In order to advance medical care and improve patient outcomes, Siriraj Hospital is committed to incorporating artificial intelligence technology. This initiative enhances the hospital’s diagnostic capabilities and also positions it  at the forefront of medical innovation in Thailand and the region.

Picture Source:Siriraj Hospital