AI proves capable in analyzing kidney biopsy images

A research team with Boston University of Medicine have demonstrated artificial intelligence (AI) can analyze kidney biopsy images more accurately than traditional human methods. The researchers published their findings online Jan. 10 in Kidney International Reports. Renal biopsy samples were collected from 171 patients treated at Boston Medical Center. The images were analyzed by the team's AI model--a convolutional neural network (CNN)--as well as human nephropathologists. The CNN model was able to better predict kidney analysis compared to the specialists in six key classification tasks--most notably in recognizing the stage of chronic kidney disease.