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radiology

RSNA 2019

QUIBIM at RSNA 2019
with new features!

For the third consecutive year, and coinciding with our business expansion, currently installed in more than 60 hospitals and used by more than 20 clinical trials worldwide, QUIBIM attends this RSNA 2019 edition with new solutions based on artificial intelligence.

Located at the AI Showcase booth #10418, QUIBIM has set up three demo points where participants can interact and navigate the platform testing their main features:

  • AI app’s for quantitative analysis and workflow optimization
  • Radiomics Data Miner tool.
  • Quantitative and radiological structured reporting.
  • Vendor-agnostic system compatible with all PACS vendors and equipment manufacturers.
  • Head-to toe solution (neurology, chest, body, and musculoskeletal).
  • Advanced visualization tools: Zero-footprint DICOM viewer. 

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Seamless AI for Radiologists

QUIBIM Precision® platform integrates AI algorithms into the radiology department workflow with no clicks, making it an efficient system that provides a complete radiology solution covering the AI and quantitative needs.

In our strategy of providing value-driven solutions, QUIBIM uses AI as a tool for organ segmentation (prostate, liver, vertebraes, fat) using Deep Learning, lesions detection (white matter lesions), and classification (chest X-ray). These AI solutions are seamlessly integrated with PACS and RIS making them a part of daily clinical practice, by activating smart back-end rules engine to schedule post-processing tasks.

Discover how QUIBIM empowers radiologists’ workflow at booth #10418 – AI Showcase in the North Hall Level 2.

RSNA_schedule a meeting

In addition, as an advanced research tool QUIBIM has integrated a prostate nosological imaging module based on a non-supervised AI algorithm using quantitative data obtained from multiparametric magnetic resonance (mp-MR) images. This method could serve as a pipeline for the development of nosologic maps and speed up the case assessment and reporting time. This tool helps radiologists’ daily work leading them focus on small zones with malignant features that would be undetected in most of the cases.

More at RSNA 2019

AI THEATER PRESENTATION

Discover at the AI Theater our presentation AI Integrated in Daily Workflow with QUIBIM Precision: Visualize, Annotate, Quantify, Report and Discover how QUIBIM Precision® is providing a seamless solution for AI in radiology, with a complete integration in clinical routine and a completely automated rules engine to get all results before reporting. Special analysis modules for brain, musculoskeletal, lung and body-oncology applications. Presented by Angel Alberich-Bayarri, PhD, our CEO and Founder.

Monday 12:00-12:20 PM | AI24 | Room: AI Showcase, North Building, Level 2.  ADD TO YOUR CALENDAR

AI WORKSHOP

Also, we have organized a special workshop for those interested in a Head-to-Toe Hands-on with AI and Imaging Biomarkers Integrated in PACS. QUIBIM Precision. We will show how to empower radiologists’ daily practice by offering full control over our AI solutions. We will show how AI solutions are seamlessly integrated with PACS and RIS on a daily practice and how to interpret quantitative imaging and AI results.  Presented by Angel Alberich-Bayarri, PhD | Fabio Garcia-Castro | Mar Roca-Sogorb, PhD

Tuesday 1:00-2:30 PM | HW32 | Room: AI Showcase, North Building, Level 2

Interested?  PLACES ARE LIMITED!

Register now

In order to get the best experience for this workshop, it is highly recommended that attendees bring a laptop with a keyboard and decent-sized screen.

Join us at RSNA 2019!

 

 

H2020-Web

QUIBIM made huge strides in
AI-powered diagnosis thanks to EU H2020

Taking part in the EU’s H2020 initiative translated into huge strides in disease detection and diagnosis by QUIBIM, by enabling the development of tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that allow to extract patterns from medical images and significantly improve human performance.

The program, which came to a term on June 30th, culminated in QUIBIM PrecisionⓇ significantly expanding its network of customers and collaborators and an improved international brand awareness.  More recently the Chest X-Ray Classification tool, another solution in the QUIBIM PrecisionⓇ suite, also received CE clearance.

“We are very happy we’ve completed the program in time and line with all our objectives, allowing us to add one more stepping stone to the development of AI-boosted healthcare,” QUIBIM CEO Angel Alberich Bayarri said.

QUIBIM, a high-tech SME based in Valencia, Spain, received a €1.25M grant from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program in 2017, to help advance its machine learning and image processing algorithms to extract imaging biomarkers from images generated on CT, MRI, X-ray, US, DXA and PET scans.

With the EU’s support, the Spanish company could finalize the development, validation and automation of new imaging biomarkers in the areas of brain, lung and oncology, as well as achieve the integration of the new computing performance and data visualization frameworks for the QUIBIM platform.

Thanks to the automated analysis of imaging biomarkers, results are ready just within minutes with the best accuracy and reproducibility, through a medically certified, cost-effective and user-oriented solution, which is available to any physician using image-based diagnosis.

“QUIBIM allows physicians to make more accurate diagnosis by providing additional information extracted from the analysis of acquired imaging studies. Our technology uses algorithms that scout the image and extracts features as imaging biomarkers that can be compared to normative information in our database, based on patterns that are not easily visible to the human eye. The algorithms combine both AI data-driven techniques and model-driven approaches. As such, our products help to reduce costs of medical testing and misdiagnosis, especially from specialists,” Alberich said.

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

More than 60 hospitals worldwide are currently working with QUIBIM tools, most of which have received CE marks and/or are FDA pending. The company has notably developed the new teaching platform of the European School of Radiology 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. The company forecasts to generate revenues above €36 million and 150 direct jobs by 2023.

European Commision Flag QUIBIM Project

 

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

MRS QUIBIM Analysis_2

QUIBIM now offering advanced MR spectroscopy analysis including 2-HG for IDH1 mutation detection

Continuing its focus in the field of Oncology, QUIBIM is proud to offer an advanced MR Spectroscopy analysis tool. This tool developed in house by QUIBIM will help oncologists to improve diagnosis and treatment of brain gliomas, a disease that has an incidence of 22.6 per 100.000 population in United States.

In order to have reproducible, reliable and accurate information from tumors, we provide physicians with quantification of the metabolite by analyzing Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) images. MRS is a non-invasive imaging technique widely used to obtain chemical information by detecting relevant metabolites concentration from a spectrum.

Even though it is possible to detect almost any metabolite in the body, QUIBIM is currently focusing on the detection of the 2-Hydroxyglurate (2HG) because of its influence in the prediction of low-grade brain gliomas. 2HG is a metabolite, normally present at very low levels in healthy cells and tissues because of the reduction of α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) catalyzed by isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) protein. The IDH enzyme mutation in low-grade brain gliomas produces an accumulation of 2-HG which makes the measurement of this oncometabolite crucial to distinguish IDH-mutant gliomas from other brain mass (Stefan, et al., 2010).

MRI quality assurance

The quality assurance of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images is important and mandatory to ensure consequent and reliable results from the MR analysis. For that reason, a qualitative evaluation of the images is performed by QUIBIM to guarantee a strict and standard control of the images by checking the accomplishment of the MRI acquisition protocol set and the absence of artifacts.

MRS quality assurance

The first technical information QUIBIM provides with, is the graphical representation of the voxel placement in the sagittal, axial and coronal view depicted in a structural image. This quality review is important in order to assure the correct position of the voxel in the MRS acquisition avoiding necrotic tissue or non-tumor substances what can affect MRS results.

MRS quantification

Once the quality check of the MRS acquisition is done, QUIBIM produces a technical structured report, quantitative and graphical information about the MRS analysis.

QUIBIM_MRS Structured report

The report, apart from the main images and quantitative information, includes a spectrum graph and the voxel placement. Each peak of the spectrum corresponds to a different substance or metabolite with a different resonance frequency. This difference is usually measured in an independent scale besides the principal magnetic field (parts per million). The intensity of each peak is related to the concentration of the substances in the studied volume (Sánchez, et al., 2001).

To perform the analysis, the voxel in the tumor area and a reference acquisition corresponding to water are required. An automatic analysis of the spectrum is done providing this information and setting the up and down boundary value in ppm according to the metabolite searched. Then, we automatically process the spectrum filtering the water peak in the time domain, reducing the spectrum noise, adjusting the ppm scale according to Creatine and Choline position, and correcting the phase of the signal in order to also correct the baseline offset level to ensure the reliability and accuracy of metabolites’ concentration (Martí-Bonmatí & Alberich-Bayarri, 2013).

Therefore, it is possible to obtain from the studied metabolite its absolute concentration, the percentage of standard deviation (%SD) and its relative concentration using Creatine as a reference value (/Cr), sometimes adding other reference metabolites like PCr as the example of Figure 1 (/Cr+PCr).

The information provided by the standard deviation is essential to read MRS results because absolute concentration reliability depends on them: metabolites with a %SD less than 50 are practically undetectable with this data whereas a %SD<20 is a rough criterion for estimates of acceptable reliability. In addition, the third column indicates ratio relative to /Cr. This quantitative information will appear in the lower part of the report followed by a space for the signature of the scientist from QUIBIM once the analysis is done.

MRS analysis is now available in QUIBIM Precision® Platform to support oncologists and radiologists in brain gliomas treatment and diagnosis.

boton try quibim

References

  • Francesca Branzoli, *. A. (2018). Highly specific determination of IDH status using edited in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Neuro-Oncology, 907-916.
  • Martí-Bonmatí, L., & Alberich-Bayarri, Á. (2013). Disease Biomarkers: Modelling MR Spectroscopy and Clinical Applications in Bioinformatics of Human Proteomics. Valencia: Springer.
  • Min Zhou, *. Y. (2018). Diagnostic accuracy of 2-hydroxyglutarate magnetic resonance spectroscopy in newly diagnosed brain mass and suspected recurrent gliomas. Neuro-Oncology, 1262-1271.
  • Sánchez, J., Santos, A., SantaMarta, C., Benito, C., Benito, M., & Desco, M. (2001). Herramienta de Análisis de Espectros de RM. CASEIB. Madrid.
  • Stefan, G., Rob A., C., Mark D., M., Edward M., D., Mark A., B., Hyun Gyung, J., . . . David P., S. (2010). Cancer-associated metabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate accumulates in acute myelogenous leukemia with isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 mutations. Journal of experimental Medicine, 207(2), 339–344.
Bianca Muresan

INTERVIEW | Quantification of body composition to detect malnutrition in oncological patients

Bianca Tabita Muresan, master in personalized and community nutrition by the University of Valencia and currently PhD student in nutrition and endocrinology, took time to answer some questions about the relation between malnutrition in oncology and quantitative imaging after her one week training period at QUIBIM.

Tell us about yourself and how did you come to know QUIBIM before your training period with us?

I am a PhD student at the Faculty of Medicine (University of Valencia) and my doctorate thesis is about the diagnosis of sarcopenia and measurement of body composition in cancer patients, using the CT scans previously done to the patient for the disease diagnose or the radiotherapy treatment planning. Specifically, I use the powerful information hidden in CT scans to detect malnutrition in those cancer patients with high risk of developing it, as for example happens in patients suffering from head and neck or lung cancer, or cancers that affects the digestive system.  After detecting malnourished cancer patients, I work together with the Endocrinology and Nutrition Department to translate nutrition goals for improving cancer treatment collateral effects (as for example fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, dysphagia, among others), or to assist with nutritional supplements of feeding tubes to help keep up a patient’s strength during treatment.

Due to my Master practicum and some research projects I collaborate since four years ago with many investigators of La Fe Health Research Institute in Valencia. Moreover, my thesis director (Dr. Alegría Montoro Pastor), recommended me to contact QUIBIM and GIBI for a short internship during my university studies and I knew that could improve my performance at work, as well as help me to reach new skills about imaging biomarkers.

 

Your field of expertise is malnutrition in Oncology. The Quantitative Medical Imaging field has significantly increased in the last years, but in hospitals, we still use anthropometric mediations as for example body mass index (kg/m2) for evaluating body composition, so what do you think is the main reason for using medical imaging?

Anthropometric variables, as for example body mass index, are the most commonly employed measures for detecting nutritional status in epidemiology, because of their simplicity and easy data collection. The problem is that in clinical practice, these parameters have a significant inter and intra observer variability. Moreover, they don’t allow the detection of major body compartments (such as lean body mass or adipose tissue), the estimation of body composition or to description of body fat distribution, which have been proved to be highly correlated to different degrees of malnutrition and sarcopenic obesity. In those cases, medical imaging, as for example computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) would facilitate the quantification of body fat and muscle mass distribution. For this purpose, 3D image segmentation techniques are applied, which allow the differentiation of subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, muscles and fatty infiltration within the muscular tissue. As of today, most of the 3D image segmentation techniques require manual correction but new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are providing promising results in the field.

What means sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity and which are the effects of these terms to oncological outcomes? How could you measure these terms with medical imaging?

Sarcopenia is defined as a loss of skeletal muscle mass and decrease muscle function with or without loss of body weight and body fat. This condition could also occur in patients who present overweight, coexisting both pathologies: sarcopenia and obesity. The prevalence of sarcopenia in cancer patients was found to be a bad prognostic factor for disease progression and survival, as well as a negative predictor of toxicity levels and treatment complications.

In clinical practice we use bio–impedance analysis (BIA) for the evaluation of lean body mass and total adipose tissue, and this could also be analyzed by dual x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). In addition, CT and MRI have shown to be excellent tools in assessing muscle mass tissue and different fat areas inside the body (subcutaneous, visceral and intramuscular). In the last years, several studies have suggested different cut-off values for detecting low muscle mass and low muscle density.  With this information, we try to detect pathological processes as for example pre-sarcopenia (which means loss of muscle mass without loss of muscle strength), myosteatosis (which means fat within and around skeletal muscle) and visceral obesity. The evaluation of muscle function for the diagnosis of sarcopenia is completed by measuring handgrip strength.

Which indicators are you working with at present and which ones do you think are the best by incorporating quantitative imaging in the future to analyze body composition in hospitals?

At the moment, we measure skeletal muscle mass, intramuscular adipose tissue, visceral adipose tissue and subcutaneous adipose tissue in cancer patients before starting cancer treatment. On the other hand, we try to study full body composition before starting radio – chemotherapy. As being a nutritionist, this technique helps to improve my work using the best technology. Related to the quantification of these imaging biomarkers, we have already sent different communications to Spanish congresses and written scientific articles for my PhD thesis, which are now in review.  Moreover, our department also works trying to find out different anatomical locations with major loss of muscle mass before cancer treatment, as well as correlating the prevalence of sarcopenia with toxicity levels and quality of life after antineoplastic treatment.

 For the future, I believe it would be helpful to include bone measurements to identify patients with osteopenia and in those patients with MRI, determine fat concentration in the liver (steatosis) would also be important for detecting important nutritional problems.

Finally, tell us shortly how did you find the experience at QUIBIM and GIBI these days and how could this training period improve your work?

 First of all, I would like to thank all the teamwork of QUIBIM and GIBI for offering me the opportunity to learn about the most advanced technology. I have definitely improved my skills about discovering interesting quantitative imaging biomarkers as for example fat liver and iron concentration, which are very important for future nutrition researches. It was absolutely an enriching experience. Thank you! 

Thank you Bianca for your time!

QUIBIM_Symbiosis of Radiology and AI

QUIBIM at RSNA 2018!

We are happy to announce that QUIBIM will be attending this year’s annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America – RSNA 2018. From November 25 to 29, many of our Quibimers will be in Chicago demoing, sharing and showing our Radiomic solution for Hospitals and Radiology departments.

This year, QUIBIM developments are focused on the Symbiosis of Radiology and Artificial Intelligence to seamlessly integrate imaging biomarkers into radiology workflows.

QUIBIM_RSNA BOOTH 7367G

Attendees can find us at the Machine Learning Showcase – Booth #7367G  (North Building Level 3), where anyone is welcome to come over and explore the latest version of our QUIBIM Precision® Platform for medical images processing and imaging biomarkers analysis.

WANT TO DISCOVER OUR PLATFORM?

demo

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QUIBIM will be also taking part in the Machine Learning Showcase through a communication from our CEO and Founder, Ángel Alberich-Bayarri, on November 25 at 12:30 pm. The communication is entitled “QUIBIM Precision 3.0: AI as a Means, Not an End, for Imaging Biomarkers Integration in Clinical Practice” and shares QUIBIM insights about the role of AI on imaging biomarkers integration.

RSNA 2018_AAB_QUIBIM

Furthermore, as members of the NVIDIA Inception Program, QUIBIM will be demoing at the NVIDIA booth #6568 on November 26 at 10:00 am. Don’t miss it!

nvidia banner

It is a great opportunity for QUIBIM to be engaged in such a recognised event and get in touch with professionals in the fields of radiology and medical imaging.

MEET US!

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

ESOR_QUIBIM Course

QUIBIM provides the platform for the GALEN Advanced Course organized by European School of Radiology

  • QUIBIM provided the software for the hands-on workshop activities, allowing a much more dynamic and interactive case discussion

QUIBIM was honored with the chance to participate in the last edition of the “GALEN Advanced Course on Oncologic Imaging of the Abdomen”. The event was organized by the European School of Radiology (ESOR), the educational initiative of the European Society of Radiology (ESR).

This course was aimed at senior residents, board-certified radiologists and fellows interested in abdominal oncologic imaging and focused on the application of the latest technical advancements and the new European guidelines for imaging.

ESOR_QUIBIM PrecisionQUIBIM provided the software for the hands-on workshop activities, allowing a much more dynamic and interactive case discussion. Based on our QUIBIM Precision® cloud Platform, this tool provides a powerful framework for the creation of new users, the uploading of imaging studies and relevant documentation and for the administration of the course.

Furthermore, the platform has been developed to provide lecturers with convenient features to share studies with students, visualize and edit them using our zero-footprint embedded DICOM Web Viewer and, most important, analyze the studies with any of the imaging biomarker plugins available at QUIBIM Precision®.

This event represents a great milestone for QUIBIM, as ESOR, with over 19.000 participants in more than 250 ESOR courses, has become the major provider of complementary radiological education in Europe and worldwide.

ESOR_QUIBIM

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.

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