How Might AI and Chest Imaging Help Unravel COVID-19's Mysteries?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to expand the role of chest imaging in COVID-19 beyond diagnosis to enable risk stratification, treatment monitoring, and discovery of novel therapeutic targets. AI's power to generate models from large volumes of information – fusing molecular, clinical, epidemiological, and imaging data – may accelerate solutions to detect, contain, and treat COVID-19. Two healthcare workers fell ill in Wuhan, China, where the first Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) case was reported. Both were 29 years old and were hospitalized after contracting the virus. One survived, the other died. In a global pandemic that has suddenly pushed doctors, scientists, and healthcare workers to the frontlines, why some patients are falling critically ill while others have minimal or no symptoms is one of the most mysterious aspects of the disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).