Left image shows manual lesion segmentation, while right shows fully automated lesion segmentation. Sydney Neuroimaging Analysis Centre (SNAC) is building artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help radiologists automate laborious analysis tasks when it comes to examining brain scan imaging. SNAC researchers have developed AI-based algorithms using the Nvidia Clara suite of medical imaging tools, as well as cuDNN libraries and TensorRT inference software for a number of applications, including isolating brain images from head scans and segmenting brain lesions. According to neurologist professor at the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre, Michael Barnett, within the one and a half years since SNAC integrated AI into its systems, it has helped "dramatically reduce the time taken to perform fairly straightforward structural assessments of MRI scans". "For example, a prominent metric we want to produce for a clinical trial would be brain volume, lesion number and lesion volume, [and] change of lesions from one scan to another. Those processes would take up to an hour on a single scan, now we have 90-95% of the time fully automated," he said.

In the field of neuroimaging, two heads are better than one. So radiologists around the globe are exploring the use of AI tools to share their heavy workloads -- and improve the consistency, speed and accuracy of brain scan analysis. "We often refer to manual annotation as the gold standard for neuroimaging, when it's actually probably not," said Tim Wang, director of operations at the Sydney Neuroimaging Analysis Centre, or SNAC. "In many cases, AI provides a more consistent, less biased evaluation than manual classification or segmentation." An Australian company co-located with the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre, SNAC conducts neuroimaging research as well as commercial image analysis for clinical research trials.

The University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre will partner with the Sydney Neuroimaging Analysis Centre to improve diagnostic neuroimaging of brain ailments such as multiple sclerosis and dementia. The Brain and Mind Centre is an institute within the University researching and developing treatments for conditions of the brain and mind. According to the report released by the University, funding amounting to A$ 2.36 million will be awarded to the project through the government's Cooperative Research Centre-Project (CRC-P) Program as announced by Assistant Minister for Science, Jobs and Innovation the Hon Zed Seselja. The CRC-P Program is a competitive merit-based program supporting industry-led, outcomes-focused partnerships between industry, researchers and the community. The investment made by the government is matched by nearly A$ 2.8 million of cash and in-kind contributions by the project partners of both the University and the Brain and Mind Centre, including Sydney Neuroimaging Analysis Centre (SNAC) and the I-MED Radiology Network.