Evaluating artificial intelligence for medical imaging: a primer for clinicians

Abstract

Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform medical imaging. The effective integration of artificial intelligence into clinical practice requires a robust understanding of its capabilities and limitations. This paper begins with an overview of key clinical use cases such as detection, classification, segmentation and radiomics. It highlights foundational concepts in machine learning such as learning types and strategies, as well as the training and evaluation process. We provide a broad theoretical framework for assessing the clinical effectiveness of medical imaging artificial intelligence, including appraising internal validity and generalisability of studies, and discuss barriers to clinical translation. Finally, we highlight future directions of travel within the field including multi-modal data integration, federated learning and explainability. By having an awareness of these issues, clinicians can make informed decisions about adopting artificial intelligence for medical imaging, improving patient care and clinical outcomes.