Stanford University and researchers at Intermountain Healthcare have investigated the efficacy of an artificial intelligence system’s diagnostic capabilities in chest X-ray imaging. In this study, chest X-rays of patients were analyzed in the ER that were suffering from pneumonia-like symptoms. The AI system, CheXpert, was developed by Stanford University and has been studied at a number of emergency departments at Intermountain hospitals in Utah.
Researchers found that that the AI system was able to accurately diagnose the X-rays, compared to the consensus of three radiologists, in approximately 10 seconds. The incredibly fast clinical diagnostic capabilities of CheXpert has the potential to reduce pneumonia diagnosis times and allow faster treatment. For patients suffering from pneumonia that are in a compromised state, time matters and faster diagnostic capabilities could be a matter of life and death.