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Artificial Intelligence

MS WORLD DAY_QUIBIM

IMAGING BIOMARKERS IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Pain, depression, slurred speech and feeling of numbness, tingling, or weakness. These are just some symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disease, a long-term condition that affects the brain and spinal cord.

In MS, the immune system confuses myelin with a foreign body and attacks it. The loss of this protective sheath that covers the nerve fibers will disrupt the messages travelling between the brain and the body. These messages may be slowed down, interrupted, or may not occur at all.

Eventually, the person sees affected the ability of controlling their own actions. The signs and symptoms of MS may vary greatly depending on the stage of the disease and the location of the affected nerve fibers. Movement affections, vision problems, altered speech and dizziness are common consequences of this condition.

It is the most widespread neurological disorder of young adults globally. The disease can be developed at any age, but its main incidence appears in the range of 20-50 years old. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society estimates that near 2.3 million people are living with this disease around the world. It also calculates that 1 million of them are placed in the United States, where 200 new cases are diagnosed every week.

Together with blood tests, medical history and neurologic exams, imaging scans have also proven to be a key element for the diagnosis of MS, concretely the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the reference diagnostic technique for the identification of lesions in MS.

Damaged white matter has a prolonged T2 relaxation time due to increased tissue water content and to degradation of the myelin, being well depicted on MRI and concretely on Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) images. In this MR-sequence, MS lesions are seen as white matter hyperintensities (WMH). Nowadays, manual segmentation of WMH areas is still the gold standard to quantify the total lesion volume and to know the number of lesions in the brain. However, this methodology turns MS patient’s diagnosis and follow-up in a cumbersome and time-consuming task with high intra- and inter- observer variabilities.

Zero-click tools based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, more concretely, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) can be used to automatically segment WMH on FLAIR images in a few minutes. Novel designed architectures are composed of an ensemble of CNNs built on standard convolutional, dilated and residual layers.

Multiple Sclerosis_QUIBIM

These tools are capable of fine segmentation of the lesion avoiding the physiological WMH as the ependymal layer. Physicians can obtain quantitative information that helps them to achieve a more accurate and earlier diagnosis, thus reducing the workload and improving the time-efficiency while enhancing patient assessment.

What information does it provide?

Once WMH are segmented, relevant lesion statistics are quantified: lesion number, total lesion volume, dominant lesion volume, dissemination, or entropy among others. All this information can be summarized in a structured report along with the most characteristic slices. These processes will easily assist physicians in the diagnosis of MS patients not in the future, but now.

QuibimStructuredReport_White matter lesions

AUTHORS:

Eduardo Camacho Ramos.

Ana Jiménez Pastor.

QUIBIM_chest_xray_classifier_logo3

QUIBIM’s AI-FUELED CHEST X-RAY CLASSIFIER GETS CE MARK

  • Chest X-ray classifier is added as a new CE cleared tool within QUIBIM Precision platform, which already received CE mark class IIa certification earlier in 2019.

  • QUIBIM’s Chest X-Ray Classification AI-Tool dynamically learns using new images, meaning the system is continuously evolving and improving over time.

Valencia, Spain – 27th May 2019. Spanish healthcare AI company QUIBIM today announced that its AI-powered Chest X-Ray Classification tool has received CE certification. The company already obtained the class IIa CE mark earlier this year for the imaging biomarker analysis algorithms, the zero footprint DICOM viewer and the platform within the QUIBIM Precision platform, becoming the first Spanish firm to ever receive the clearance.

QUIBIM applies machine learning and image processing techniques to extract imaging biomarkers from medical images in order to assist radiologists and physicians in daily practice. With its AI-based chest x-ray classifier, QUIBIM helps to detect pathological findings that could go unreported due to the heavy workload of radiology departments.

QuibimStructuredReport_Chest X Ray Classifier

“Our tool was designed to prioritize unreported, potentially pathological radiographs, to help radiologists be more efficient by focusing their efforts on studies that are more likely to have pathologies. We are sure this will have an impact in big healthcare systems,” Angel Alberich-Bayarri, QUIBIM CEO and founder, explained.

The solution makes use of a novel architecture based on referee networks combined with Convolutional Neural Networks that have been trained with a database of more than 500,000 images, to calculate the final probability of the X-Ray of being abnormal. Afterwards, the probabilities are used to estimate the presence of pathologies in chest X-Rays.

Because of this Artificial Intelligence methodology, the classifier understands the visual patterns that are most indicative of the different pathologies using the knowledge extracted from the large dataset of radiographs used to train the networks. “QUIBIM’s Chest X-Ray Classification Tool is able to learn further using new images, which means that this system is continually improving and evolving with time,” Rafael López, Artificial Intelligence Engineer at QUIBIM, said.

QUIBIM’S Chest X-Ray Analysis Tool is already available at QUIBIM Precision®, accessible through the cloud with just a few clicks or it can be fully integrated in the radiology department’s workflow as a local solution for seamless interpretation of chest X-Rays.

Breast cancer QUIBIM

QUIBIM uses AI to boost
breast cancer research
As the first ESMO Breast Cancer Congress unfolded 2-4 May in Berlin, Germany, QUIBIM CEO highlighted the role played by artificial intelligence (AI) in breast cancer research.

The European Society of Medical Oncology focused on the progress in treatment options and improved outcomes for breast cancer (BC) patients during its first meeting dedicated to the topic (¹).

One of the key messages of the conference was that therapeutic innovations should go hand in hand with a multidisciplinary, fully integrated approach to patient care, a scenario in which AI can increasingly help make a difference, according to QUIBIM CEO & founder Angel Alberich-Bayarri.

Breast cancer_QUIBIM

QUIBIM breast cancer structured report

“AI, and in particular image quantification, can help significantly advance knowledge of this multi-faceted disease, by enabling earlier and better detection,” he said.

From the Pacific to the rest of the world

Recently QUIBIM partnered with the AI Precision Health Institute (AI-PHI) at the University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center in Honolulu, to manage, store and quantitatively analyze medical images and algorithms in breast cancer research.

Using the QUIBIM Precision® image analysis platform, AI-PHI researchers will create large scale imaging repositories with automated extraction of imaging biomarkers to characterize patients’ status. The solution will first be used as the central repository for the mammography studies conducted in the Pacific and will include mammograms from over 5 million women.

The University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center is one of 69 NCI designated cancer centers in the United States and the only one in Hawai‘i and all of the Pacific Islands. It is the only institution that uses AI to analyze medical images to assess health and predict risk of disease in the region.

The project is expected to grow exponentially as its principal investigator Dr. John Shepherd is keen on inviting selected reference centers all across the world to join the network. “It is a very interesting and pioneering work for QUIBIM, and our first big cooperation in the breast cancer setting,” Alberich said.

Seamless integration into clinical workflow

The QUIBIM Precision® image analysis platform enables to incorporate AI algorithms regardless of the institution where it is deployed, to facilitate integration into workflow.

“Researchers can program their own algorithm and code, and add it as a plugin to the platform. This feature, combined with the advanced storage and multi-user annotation capabilities of the platform, allows for a wide adoption within research groups and institutions working with AI. Time for deployment of algorithms in the real world is shortened by 25%, since you have the whole AI pipeline in just one place,” he explained.

The solution, which includes not only quantitative image analysis but also structured reporting capabilities, can be integrated into the radiology workflow and add value to this service. It can for instance be used to integrate AI algorithms to detect cancer without the need of radiologists in a first-read.

Earlier this year the platform received CE Mark certification as class IIa Medical Device, including the imaging biomarker analysis algorithms, the zero footprint DICOM viewer and the platform hosting these components and medical imaging data. The platform is now available for commercial deployment in European hospitals and diagnostic imaging centers.

In addition to the platform, the certification includes 15 algorithms in the five key areas of interest of the company: oncology, neurology, musculoskeletal, liver and lung. 

Also included in the CE Mark certification is the DataMiner, which was designed in collaboration with the team of Prof. Daniel Keim from Konstanz University to provide advanced visual analytics of large databases of patients for population health management and scientific exploitation. The DICOM web viewer that enables the user to visualize the images of a sequence, draw ROIs or apply filters is also included in the certification.

QUIBIM applies machine learning to develop tools for imaging data quantification, to accelerate image reconstruction, segmentation, detection and data mining. Beyond the breast, the company has created AI algorithms to help detect changes produced by brain and prostate cancer, but also other diseases in the hematological scenario such as non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

(¹): https://www.esmo.org/Conferences/ESMO-Breast-Cancer-2019?utm_campaign=PRESS%20-%20Breast&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=72075686&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9pH5mSHFhwzXnTGp6oSizohrD75uXccBxo1woBVGUFhJl3K5y_p4Ms4Hoa3LcwRJ_KvILSmOWhsrZxTZSWLwumEXOnOw&_hsmi=72075686

D3YI165WAAUCunr

Comprehensive solutions will boost AI use in medical imaging

Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the radiologist’s workflow is still challenging, but all-inclusive solutions can help unfold algorithms’ power, QUIBIM CEO and founder Angel Alberich-Bayarri explained during the ESR AI Premium Event, which was hosted by the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the European School of Radiology (ESOR) earlier this month in Barcelona.

Medical imaging AI is a bubbling field but very few solutions are used in daily practice today, Alberich told delegates during the busy meeting, which gathered top researchers in medical imaging AI and thousands of online attendees. “We have a lot of research, AI algorithms and start-ups, but few are really embedded in the radiology workflow,” he said.

A main obstacle to AI integration is a lack of knowledge of utilities. For most imaging biomarkers, the real application relationship with clinical endpoints on a large scale – diagnostic, prognostic and treatment response – remains unknown. Clinicians don’t want to integrate biomarkers that have not been validated, but if they don’t gather information massively and try to understand how biomarkers relate to the disease, they will never help advance healthcare, Alberich explained.

“We have to change our minds and not wait for biomarkers to be validated before they can be extracted on a daily basis. Similarly to genomics: we have to do sequencing and study diseases to detect unknown mutations by ourselves,” he said.

The lack of annotated data is another challenge. Radiology reports are not filled with a focus on data annotation, but on descriptive language that needs to be processed by natural language processing (NLP). However they would be an ideal source of knowledge, and not just for the clinicians.

One-stop-shop platform using biomarkers

QUIBIM was created in 2015 as a spinoff company of La Fe Hospital in Valencia, Spain, to help radiologists make the most of AI in their everyday practice, by providing a one-stop-shop solution using imaging biomarkers and powerful algorithms.

“Offering a single solution embedded in workflows is key because radiologists will not buy all start-up micro developments but the best platform,” he said.

The very name of the company is an acronym and stands for Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers in Medicine. Imaging biomarkers enable to measure everything happening in the body to extract parameters that can provide information on the tissue of the lesion type beyond classification. Fuelled by AI, these biomarkers can deliver unprecedented information on disease.

“Many different imaging pipelines have dramatically changed thanks to AI integration. For example, we used to have lots of problems doing segmentation with traditional algorithms in tissues and organs such as the liver in MRI. Thanks to AI, segmentation has improved and with it our knowledge of liver disease,” he said.

A prerequisite is to integrate data mining solutions to make radiomics easy to everyone. This means it must be embedded in the same platform, as current solutions are not able to treat this amount of quantitative data from patient cohorts. “A lot of parameters are quantified in daily routine, but there is still no way to store and process them massively. Our current PACS systems are simply not prepared for quantitative data,” Alberich said.

There is a lot of sense in working within a structured report (SR), as it enables to annotate data that will further advance research. Prospectively the studies can be very well annotated if AI imaging biomarkers are integrated in the fields of the SR. Working with the SR would tremendously facilitate communication between clinicians and with patients.

“We are building the radiology report of the future, only we’re doing it now. Patients do not understand radiology reports, so we have to change the way we communicate. We are very much aligned with the standardized way blood test findings are reported, everyone understands whether findings are in or out of range and if there is any abnormality. We have to be more intuitive in our communication,” Alberich said.

QUIBIM is developing quantitative, one-page long structured reports that are actionable, quantitative and automated. The reports are designed with KOLs in each speciality, to make sure they reflect the reality of clinical practice.

Clinical input and powerful technology

Cooperation with clinicians is a key axis for the company, which uses a stepwise model to create new solutions with clinicians in the loop.

The company develops highly performing AI algorithms using unprecedented network architectures, for instance, multiscale convolutional networks ensemble in brain MR, 2.5D network in liver MR and referee network in chest x-ray, and hundreds of thousands of annotated images that have been acquired through cooperation with researchers and university hospitals.

QUIBIM has launched algorithms in different product areas to provide a head to toe imaging biomarker solution; in neuro for Alzheimer, ALS, MS, stroke and cerebrovascular events; in MSK for articulations; in chest for screening, COPD and fibrosis; and in breast for screening. More products will soon be released that will focus on other body areas.

More than 60 hospitals worldwide currently use QUIBIM tools, most of which have received CE marks and/or are FDA pending. The company has notably developed the new ESOR teaching platform and has supplied its QUIBIM Precision® image analysis platform to the AI Precision Health Institute at the University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center in Honolulu. QUIBIM has received €3.5m funding ever since its creation and has offices in Spain and the U.S.

Parenchima workshop quibim

First QUIBIM Precision Hands-On Parenchima Cost Workshop

Valencia, March 14, 2019 –  Celebrating the World Kidney Day, QUIBIM, with the support of the Parenchima initiative, organized the first QUIBIM Precision Training Workshop for leading scientific researchers in medical imaging of kidney from 25 European countries.

On March 12th – 13th, QUIBIM hosted its first face-to-face workshop in Valencia (Spain) to train researchers and engineers who want to integrate medical image quantification algorithms in the Quibim Precision® platform. This is an initiative by QUIBIM with the objective of opening the platform to radiologists, clinicians and researchers who want to develop and implement their own MRI algorithms for chronic kidney disease.

QUIBIM was selected in the previous annual meeting of the Parenchima consortium in  Prague, (October 4th-5th, 2018), as the best system for medical imaging data management and integration of new analysis algorithms for the COST action project. Thanks to its ability to centralise, manage and store data extracted from the medical images from the different partner hospitals in a single platform, QUIBIM  offers the project to allow for acquisition protocols and algorithms comparison in terms of quality and precision, all at the same place.

PARENCHIMA WORKSHOP QUIBIM

The outcome of the project will consist of  new standards for image acquisition and analysis of MRI of the kidney for chronic kidney disease. QUIBIM’s team enjoyed hosting the workshop for the partners and are excited to be part of such a groundbreaking initiative.   

About PARENCHIMA

Renal MRI biomarkers are underused today in research and in clinical practice due to the need for dedicated in-house expertise and development. Transferring solutions to other centres is therefore a challenge, and this leads to a significant duplication of efforts, a lack of standardisation in the methods, and difficulties in comparing results between centres. This also limits commercial exploitation, and hinders the set-up of multi-centre trials or translation into clinical practice.

The overall aim of PARENCHIMA is to eliminate the main barriers to the broader study, commercial exploitation and clinical use of renal MRI biomarkers.

PARENCHIMA will coordinate the research of leading European groups in this area to:

  • improve the reproducibility and standardisation of renal MRI biomarkers;
  • increase their availability by developing an open-access toolbox with software and data;
  • demonstrate biological validity and clinical utility in a prospective multicentre clinical study.

In order to increase the impact of this project we are reaching out to join the efforts. More info at: www.renalmri.org

About QUIBIM

QUIBIM is a company from Valencia (Spain) which applies artificial intelligence and advanced computational models to radiological images to objectively measure changes produced by a lesion or by a pharmacological treatment, offering additional quantitative information to the qualitative approach of radiology. QUIBIM technology and services are applied in clinical practice, clinical trials, radiology education and research projects. More info at: www.quibim.com

boothecr

Meet us at ECR 2019

We are delighted to share that QUIBIM will attend the 25th European Congress of Radiology 2019 (ECR) from Wednesday, February 27th to Sunday, March 3rd, 2019. This year we have changed our standard location, now you can meet us at the AI Exhibition area (EXPO X1) booth #AI-15.

ECR attendees will have the opportunity to explore our latest version of the platform QUIBIM Precision® V3.0, focused on the Symbiosis of Radiology and Artificial Intelligence to seamlessly integrate imaging biomarkers into radiology workflows. Come and try our AI solutions and imaging biomarkers analysis!

Book a DEMO

Make sure not to miss our scientific contributions:

  • Wednesday, February 27:
    • 3D post-processing in 2019 – Dr. Ángel Alberich Bayarri.   |  Imaging Informatics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (Room N) – 16:00 – 17:30
    • Deeply supervised networks for the automated liver segmentation and quantification on MECSE-MRI – Ana Jiménez Pastor | EPOS
    • Stress testing a deep learning algorithm for normal/abnormal classification of Chest X-rays on a spectrum-biased abnormal – Rafael López Gónzalez  |  EPOS
      weighted dataset.
  • Thursday, February 28:
    • Functional imaging of the liver Chairperson’s introduction – Dr. Luis Martí Bonmatí. |  Abdominal Viscera, Contrast Media (Room M 5) – 10:30 – 12:00
    • AI PITCH – Dr. Ángel Alberich Bayarri.  |  Artificial Intelligence Exhibition (AIX) Theatre ( AIX Theatre) – 11:40
    • What to think about when writing a paper – Dr. Luis Martí Bonmatí. |  Education, General Radiology, Professional Issues (Room: C&T 3) – 14:00 – 15:00
    • Deep learning (DL) in medical imaging – Dr. Ángel Alberich Bayarri.   |  Education, General Radiology, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (Room: M3) – 14:00 – 15:30
    • Quantification and evaluation of pre-post exercise femoral cartilage thickness and T2 changes in ultramarathon athletes – Fabio García Castro  |  Musculoskeletal, Imaging Methods (Room: O) – 14:00 – 15:30
    • How to manage critical reviews – Dr. Luis Martí Bonmatí. |  Education, General Radiology, Professional Issues (Room C&T 3) – 15:00 – 16:00
  • Friday, March 1:
    • ECR Academies: Radiology Leaders’ Bootcamp: Dream team Chairperson’s introduction –Dr. Luis Martí Bonmatí. |  Management/Leadership (Room M 2) – 10:30 – 12:00
    • Start-up in radiology – Dr. Ángel Alberich Bayarri.   |  Management/Leadership (Room M2) –  14:00 – 15:30
  • Saturday, March 2:
    • Automated Prostate multiregional segmentation in Magnetic Resonance using deeply supervised Convolutional Neural Networks – Rafael López González  |  Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Oncologic Imaging, Imaging Informatics, Genitourinary, Physics in Medical Imaging (Room G) – 16:00 – 17:30
  • Sunday, March 3:
    • Automatic visceral fat characterization on CT scans through Deep Learning and CNN for the assessment of metabolic syndrome –  Ana Jiménez Pastor | Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Abdominal Viscera, GI Tract, Oncologic Imaging, Imaging Informatics (Room D) – 14:00 – 15:30
    • Liver Case-Based Diagnosis Training – Dr. Luis Martí Bonmatí. |  Education, General Radiology, General Radiography (Radiographers) (Room E1) – 13:00 – 15:30

Join us at ECR 2019!

 For more information, get in touch with us at contact@quibim.com

Presentation of QUIBIM Precision platform at PARENCHIMA meeting in Prague, October 2018

QUIBIM continua su liderazgo en imagen médica e inteligencia artificial gestionando los datos y los algoritmos de un proyecto europeo en 25 países

QUIBIM ha sido seleccionado como el socio principal para gestionar todos los datos de imagen médica y los algoritmos de análisis de la iniciativa PARENCHIMA, un proyecto europeo de la acción COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) que se inició en abril de 2017 con el objetivo de impulsar el uso de biomarcadores de imagen calculados con resonancia magnética para mejorar el manejo de pacientes con enfermedad renal crónica. Multiples Investigadores científicos de 25 países europeos, líderes en imagen médica y enfermedad renal, utilizarán en esta iniciativa la plataforma QUIBIM Precision® para la realización de análisis avanzados. Uno de los desafíos del proyecto es centralizar los datos de imágenes médicas y los algoritmos de todos los socios para permitir la comparación entre protocolos de adquisición y algoritmos computacionales en términos de calidad y precisión. El resultado del proyecto consistirá en dos nuevos estándares para la adquisición y análisis de imágenes de resonancia magnética en la enfermedad renal crónica.

En la pasada reunión anual en Praga, los días 4 y 5 de octubre, se formalizó el acuerdo entre los socios del consorcio PARENCHIMA y QUIBIM. La plataforma QUIBIM Precision fue seleccionada como el mejor sistema para la gestión de las imágenes y de integración de los nuevos algoritmos de análisis.

Steven Sourbron, profesor de resonancia magnética en la Universidad de Leeds y coordinador del proyecto, manifestó: “Estoy encantado de que QUIBIM haya elegido asociarse con PARENCHIMA para ayudarnos a mejorar los resultados en beneficio de los pacientes, al hacer accesibles estas innovadoras y prometedoras técnicas para su uso en ensayos clínicos y manejo asistencial del paciente”. Frank Zöllner, profesor adjunto de física médica en la Universidad de Heidelberg y líder del grupo de trabajo encargado de la base de datos y el software de PARENCHIMA, comentói que “QUIBIM tiene una gran experiencia en algoritmos de inteligencia artificial y gestión de datos de imagen médica y estamos seguros de que son el colaborador adecuado que necesita este proyecto”. Angel Alberich-Bayarri, CEO de QUIBIM expresó que “QUIBIM está orgulloso de ser parte de este proyecto donde se generarán nuevos estándares de adquisición y análisis de imágenes en la enfermedad renal crónica, un escenario clínico no abordado previamente de forma conjunta. El impacto de este estudio será global y mejorará la vida de millones de pacientes, ya que esta enfermedad afecta al 10% de la población mundial.”

 

Acerca de PARENCHIMA

Hoy en día, los biomarcadores de resonancia magnética renal están infrautilizados no sólo en la investigación, pero también en la práctica clínica, principalmente debido a la falta de difusión y a la necesidad de desarrollo de técnicas propias. Transferir soluciones a otros centros donde funcionen y estén validadas es, por lo tanto, un reto todavía no resuelto, lo que conlleva una replicación significativa de esfuerzos, una falta de estandarización en los métodos y dificultades para comparar los resultados entre los centros. Esto también limita la comercialización y dificulta la creación de ensayos multicéntricos y la traslación a la práctica clínica.

El objetivo general de PARENCHIMA es eliminar las principales barreras para un estudio clínico más extenso y la consiguiente explotación comercial de los biomarcadores de resonancia magnética renal.

PARENCHIMA coordinará la investigación de los principales grupos europeos en esta área para:

  • mejorar la reproducibilidad y estandarización de los biomarcadores de resonancia magnética renal;
  • aumentar su disponibilidad desarrollando un conjunto de herramientas de acceso abierto con herramientas software y datos;
  • demostrar la validez biológica y la utilidad clínica en un estudio clínico prospectivo multicéntrico.

Para aumentar el impacto de este proyecto, hemos decidido unir nuestros esfuerzos. Más información en: www.renalmri.org

 

Sobre QUIBIM

QUIBIM es una empresa de Valencia (España) que aplica inteligencia artificial y modelos computacionales avanzados a las imágenes radiológicas para medir de manera objetiva los cambios producidos por una lesión o por los tratamientos farmacológico, y ofrece información cuantitativa adicional al enfoque cualitativo de la radiología. La tecnología y los servicios de QUIBIM se aplican en la práctica clínica, los ensayos clínicos, la formación en radiología y los proyectos de investigación. Más información en: www.quibim.com

Presentation of QUIBIM Precision platform at PARENCHIMA meeting in Prague, October 2018

QUIBIM to manage imaging data and AI for European project PARENCHIMA across 25 countries

QUIBIM has been selected as the main partner to manage all imaging data and analysis algorithms of the PARENCHIMA initiative, a COST action project initiated in April 2017 with the objective of boosting the use of renal MRI biomarkers to improve the management of chronic kidney disease patients. The leading scientific researchers in medical imaging of the kidney from 25 European countries will be using QUIBIM Precision® platform for highly advanced image analysis. One of the challenges of the project is to centralize the medical imaging data and algorithms from all partners to allow for acquisition protocols and algorithms comparison in terms of quality and precision. The outcome of the project will consist of two new standards for image acquisition and analysis in MR of the kidney.

In the past annual meeting of the consortium in Prague, which took place on 4-5 October, an agreement was established between QUIBIM and PARENCHIMA consortium partners for the selection of QUIBIM Precision platform as the best system for images management and integration of new analysis algorithms.

Steven Sourbron, Lecturer in Magnetic Resonance Imaging at the University of Leeds and project coordinator, expressed “I am delighted that QUIBIM has chosen to partner with PARENCHIMA, helping us to improve outcomes for patients by opening up these promising new methods for use in clinical trials and patient management”. Frank Zöllner, adjunct Professor for medical physics at the University of Heidelberg and leader of working group for PARENCHIMA database and software said “QUIBIM has strong expertise in AI algorithms and managing data and we are confident that they are the right collaborator for this project”. Angel Alberich-Bayarri, CEO of QUIBIM said that ”QUIBIM is excited to be part of this project, which will lead to new standards of image acquisition and analysis in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), an unaddressed clinical scenario. I am confident that the impact of this study will be global and improve lives of millions of patients, since it is a disease affecting 10% of population worldwide”

 

About PARENCHIMA

Renal MRI biomarkers are today underused in research and in clinical practice due to the need for dedicated in-house expertise and development. Transferring solutions to other centres is therefore a challenge, and this leads to a significant duplication of efforts, a lack of standardisation in the methods, and difficulties in comparing results between centres. This also limits commercial exploitation, and hinders the set-up of multi-centre trials or translation into clinical practice.

The overall aim of PARENCHIMA is to eliminate the main barriers to the broader study, commercial exploitation and clinical use of renal MRI biomarkers.

PARENCHIMA will coordinate the research of leading European groups in this area to:

  • improve the reproducibility and standardisation of renal MRI biomarkers;
  • increase their availability by developing an open-access toolbox with software and data;
  • demonstrate biological validity and clinical utility in a prospective multicentre clinical study.

In order to increase the impact of this project we are reaching out to join the efforts. More info at: www.renalmri.org

 

About QUIBIM

QUIBIM is a company from Valencia (Spain) which applies artificial intelligence and advanced computational models to radiological images to objectively measure changes produced by a lesion or by a pharmacological treatment, offering additional quantitative information to the qualitative approach of radiology. QUIBIM technology and services are applied in clinical practice, clinical trials, radiology education and research projects. More info at: www.quibim.com

QUIBIM_chest_xray_classifier_logo3

New Chest X-Ray Classification Tool

Despite the technological evolution of imaging modalities like CT, US and MRI, conventional X-ray remains the most performed examination in radiology departments, and remains a fundamental tool for anatomical analysis in the detection and diagnosis of respiratory diseases and bone tissue alterations. However, radiology departments have limitations in reporting the X-Rays due to the limited resources available (link).

QUIBIM has developed a Chest X-Ray Classification Tool that offers a solution to this problem which can help radiology departments become even more efficient. This classifier developed in collaboration with Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, estimates the probability of chest X-Rays of having a pathology using Artificial Intelligence.

How does it work?

This tool makes use of fourteen Convolutional Neural Networks trained with a database of more than 100,000 images (NIH ChestXray14 dataset) to estimate the probability of presence of the following pathologies in chest X-Rays: atelectasis, cardiomegaly, effusion, infiltration, mass, nodule, pneumonia, pneumothorax, consolidation, edema, emphysema, fibrosis, pleural thickening and hernia. Afterwards, the probabilities are used by a Fully Connected Neural Network to get the final probability of the X-Ray of being abnormal.

XRAY chest

Because of this AI methodology the classifier understands the visual patterns that are most indicative of the different pathologies using the knowledge extracted from the large dataset of radiographs used to train the networks. QUIBIM’s Chest X-Ray Classification Tool is able to learn further using new images, which means that this system is continually improving and evolving with time.

 What information does it provide?

Once all the quantifications are performed this tool provides an intuitive Structured Report with the patient’s information, the abnormal probability of the radiographs analyzed and the representation of the findings. In addition, if the image is classified as abnormal, the report shows the three pathologies that are more likely to be found and a heatmap that highlights the most abnormal regions. This report is designed to be very user friendly, to assist the user in understanding the tool’s findings at a glance in order to make its usage highly efficient.

Why is this new tool so useful?

Using this technology it is possible to prioritize unreported, potentially pathological radiographs which allows radiologists to focus their efforts on studies that are more likely to have pathologies and thereby become more efficient. This tool essentially ensures that pathological findings, which could have been unreported due to the heavy workload of radiology departments, are correctly reported.

QUIBIM’s goal is to provide the radiology departments with an optimal solution for automatic reading of X-Rays without interfering in the  workflow of the department.

QUIBIM’S Chest X-Ray Analysis Tool is already available at QUIBIM Precision® Depending on the needs of the department, this tool is accessible through the cloud with just a few clicks  or  it can be fully integrated in the radiology department’s workflow as a local solution for  seamless interpretation of  chest X-Rays.

boton try quibim

Ines Perea, Strategic Advisor at QUIBIM

Quibim’s Strategic Advisor Inés Perea discusses the radical disruptions that quantitative imaging analysis can provide to cancer research

Quibim’s Strategic Advisor Inés Perea discusses the radical disruptions that quantitative imaging analysis can provide to cancer research amongst other areas

Inés Perea is a Doctor that graduated with honors in the Pharmacy and Executive Business Program by Instituto de Empresa of Madrid. Mrs. Perea has extensive and versatile experience spanning more than 20 years in the Pharmaceutical industry working within different roles within the Medical, Access and Commercial (Marketing, Sales, Strategic Planning) areas and international experience in Global and regional teams. Her main area of expertise is oncology and biologics where she has been involved in the strategic planning and commercialization of more than 10 drugs/indications, most of them linked to some form of biomarker diagnosis.

How did you come to know QUIBIM before becoming their strategic advisor?

I was in contact with founder and CEO, Angel Bayarri months prior to my start with Quibim. A mutual friend of ours, a director of a large genetics biomarker laboratory in Spain was working specifically on oncology genetic biomarker testing and I would get involved with his organization in the arenas of strategic value and development, as those are two of my core competencies. I was involved in the development and strategic value of genetic/biologic biomarkers in clinical trials in oncology. It was back in the 90’s when biomarkers were a thing of science fiction. Well, he introduced me to Angel and I really thought he had a fantastic idea when it came to implementation of 3-d imaging biomarkers and using algorithms to quantitatively analyze tumors. Once I learned about Quibim’s technology, I knew that the growth could be exponential if he partnered with strategic partners.

Your field of expertise is Oncology. The Quantitative Medical Imaging field has evolved significantly but we still use RECIST criteria for evaluation of treatment responses, what do you think is the main reason for this? Standardization?

This is the foundation for therapeutic trials. It is a standard when examining patients, however, it has some practical limitations. For example, with the latest breakthrough area in oncology research, immunotherapy, many immuno-oncology drugs are known to cause fluctuations in tumor size, which when analyzed simply with RECIST criteria, would appear as an increase to the tumor size, but it is now understood that tumor fluctuations occur regularly during immunotherapy treatments, often causing the tumor to grow prior to cell DE progression, which is in fact a good sign that would be captured with RECIST criteria well after the fact. In those cases, RECIST does not allow for factoring in the context of the holistic viewpoint that quantitative digital image analysis would facilitate.

What therapeutic indications are best served by incorporating quantitative imaging analysis into clinical research trials?

There is a very simple answer to this question: any therapeutic indication where standardized radiological assessments are a primary or secondary safety or efficacy endpoint of a study. This includes solid tumors, liver diseases, brain diseases, lung diseases, and many others.

Let’s discuss costs. Quantitative imaging analysis sounds expensive. However, automation and extraction of biomarkers as soon as a hospital acquires and uploads images related to a clinical trial can and do have a macroeconomic effect of lowering costs, therefore long-term costs decrease. What do you respond with when someone brings up this objection?

You are right, it is a tremendous cost saver from a macroeconomic point of view. What will continue to help this cause are national health systems, private funding, insurers, and other payers to see the long-term cost savings and efficiencies that quantitative imaging analysis facilitates. Essentially, we need to get quantitative image analysis included in the health system reimbursement system much like traditional biomarkers of a decade ago. As a matter of fact, it took health systems quite a bit of time to include standard biomarkers that we have all grown accustomed to, included on their reimbursement schedules. While it essentially all boils down to payers and health authorities, us researchers and technology pioneers need to continue to prove medium and long-term efficiencies and validate it with radiologists, clinicians and imaging researchers. Once we are able to do that effectively, the market will adjust accordingly, it always does.

The value seems to be in real-time results that can help in both safety and efficacy outcomes. Please expand further on this thought.

Real time results are everything if you really think about it. The main benefit is obviously how this technology facilitates the real time patient care capabilities of healthcare practitioners. Safety and efficacy instant results from treatments are critical when analyzing real time clinical research data. Imaging biomarkers can and will play a tremendous role in improving patient standard of care, and ultimately can make a real impact on disease outcomes.

by: Dan Sfera, also available at: https://medium.com/quibim/quibims-strategic-advisor-in%C3%A9s-perea-discusses-the-radical-disruptions-that-quantitative-imaging-54cef3a3e082