An AI Assist for Spotting COVID-19 in X Rays

Chest x rays offer a quick screening method for lung problems: A collapsed lung, the buildup of excess fluid, or swollen tissue are all recognizable by radiologists in these black and white images. Doctors also use the images to help quickly diagnosis diseases, such as pneumonia. Making x-ray screening of COVID-19 similarly speedy would benefit over-run hospitals, and the developers of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are hoping that they can help. But getting the data they need from hospitals and ensuring accuracy are challenges that they must first overcome. "In places like New York, where there was this huge explosion of [COVID-19] patients, they're already taking chest x rays alongside viral testing. So why not have a greater immediate impact by building AI [software] to help screen through all those images?" says Alexander Wong, who works on medical image processing problems using AI at the University of Waterloo, Canada.