Diagnosis and Proposed Treatment for COVID-19 Patients Based on Deep Learning Analysis of Computed Tomography Images

Abstract

In this contribution, we consider computed tomography (CT) as a diagnostic tool for identifying coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. However, interpreting CT scans can be subjective, leading to interobserver variability and potential misdiagnosis. To address these challenges, a deep learning-based chest approach was developed to create a precise diagnostic tool for COVID-19 pneumonia and a personalized therapeutic strategy for individual patients. The study collected chest CT images from patients with different lung conditions, creating a diverse convolutional neural network (CNN) training material. Three different CNN-based models were tested for diagnostic purposes, with the output stating whether the patient was healthy or infected. The models facilitated selecting regions of interest (ROIs) and extracting the radiomic features from the input data, resulting in satisfactory results with core classification quality measures above the 50% threshold. For therapeutic purposes, a custom U-Net-based model was used to extract lung and infection masks from a provided CT slice. The percentage of the pathologically altered tissue was calculated, and the COVID-19 severity score was computed and then matched with an optimal therapeutic strategy. Overall, the models delivered high-quality results, representing a functioning deep learning-based application that could be advantageous as a doctor-friendly support tool. The use of deep learning techniques in medical imaging shows promising results, improving the accuracy and speed of diagnosis and treatment of not only COVID-19 but also many different diseases.