Artificial Neural Networks in Cardiovascular Diseases and its Potential for Clinical Application in Molecular Imaging.

Journal: Current radiopharmaceuticals
Published Date:

Abstract

In medical imaging, Artificial Intelligence is described as the ability of a system to properly interpret and learn from external data, acquiring knowledge to achieve specific goals and tasks through flexible adaptation. The number of possible applications of Artificial Intelligence is also huge in clinical medicine and cardiovascular diseases. To describe for the first time in literature, the main results of articles about Artificial Intelligence potential for clinical applications in molecular imaging techniques, and to describe its advancements in cardiovascular diseases assessed with nuclear medicine imaging modalities. A comprehensive search strategy was used based on SCOPUS and PubMed databases. From all studies published in English, we selected the most relevant articles that evaluated the technological insights of AI in nuclear cardiology applications. Artificial Intelligence may improve patient care in many different fields, from the semi-automatization of the medical work, through the technical aspect of image preparation, interpretation, the calculation of additional factors based on data obtained during scanning, to the prognostic prediction and risk-- group selection. Myocardial implementation of Artificial Intelligence algorithms in nuclear cardiology can improve and facilitate the diagnostic and predictive process, and global patient care. Building large databases containing clinical and image data is a first but essential step to create and train automated diagnostic/prognostic models able to help the clinicians to make unbiased and faster decisions for precision healthcare.

Authors

  • Riccardo Laudicella
    Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morpho-Functional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy.
  • Albert Comelli
    Ri.MED Foundation, Palermo, Italy.
  • Alessandro Stefano
    Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology, National Research Council (IBFM-CNR), Cefalù, Italy.
  • Monika Szostek
    Maria Sklodowska- Curie National Research Institute of Oncology (MSCNRIO), Department of Endocrine Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, Warsaw, Poland.
  • Ludovica Crocè
    Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morpho-Functional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy.
  • Antonio Vento
    Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morpho-Functional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy.
  • Alessandro Spataro
    Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morpho-Functional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy.
  • Alessio Danilo Comis
    Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morpho-Functional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy.
  • Flavia La Torre
    Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morpho-Functional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy.
  • Michele Gaeta
    Section of Radiological Sciences, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
  • Sergio Baldari
    Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morpho-Functional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy.
  • Pierpaolo Alongi
    Nuclear Medicine Unit, Fondazione Istituto G.Giglio, Ct.da Pietra Pollastra-Pisciotto, Cefalu, Italy.