As artificial intelligence (AI) technology continues to evolve, more and more Australians are beginning to use AI in their daily lives. The Australian e-Health Research Centre (AEHRC), a subsidiary of CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), is actively exploring how to apply AI in the medical field to improve the quality of medical services. The research team is innovating the analysis of medical images, especially chest X-rays, using a technology called visual language models (VLM).

AI in Healthcare

Image source note: The image is generated by AI. The image licensing service provider is Midjourney.

Chest X-rays are an important tool for diagnosing heart and respiratory diseases, screening for lung cancer, and checking the position of medical devices such as pacemakers. These complex images usually need to be interpreted by professional radiologists. However, the number of radiologists in Australia is far from sufficient, and they face significant work pressure. To address this issue, the research team is dedicated to developing a VLM model that can automatically generate radiology reports to assist radiologists.

To train this model, researchers need a large amount of data input, including chest X-ray images, patient records, and reports written by radiologists. As the model continues to receive more data for training, its report accuracy gradually improves. Recently, researchers have tried to include patients' emergency department records in the model training to further enhance the accuracy of the reports. Preliminary results show that this approach significantly improves the quality of radiology reports.

In addition to analyzing chest X-rays, AEHRC is also exploring the application of VLM in extracting information from medical documents. By converting documents into images, researchers can efficiently extract the required information. Although there have been significant technological advancements, the research team always prioritizes ethical and safety issues, ensuring that the model's effectiveness applies to all people. In addition, they emphasize that the purpose of AI technology is not to replace medical professionals but to support them.

Currently, AEHRC is collaborating with Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane to evaluate the differences between AI-generated reports and those by human radiologists. In the future, they will expand clinical trials to verify the effectiveness of the technology in different medical environments.

Key Points:

🌟 AI technology is changing the way medical imaging is analyzed, helping radiologists reduce their workload.  

📈 The VLM model improves the accuracy of chest X-ray reports by training on a large amount of data.  

🔍 The research team emphasizes that AI aims to support, not replace, medical professionals, ensuring the safety of medical decisions.