Auto-Lesion Segmentation with a Novel Intensity Dark Channel Prior for COVID-19 Detection

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel CT image analysis method using an intensity dark channel prior and deep neural networks to accurately differentiate COVID-19 from other lung diseases, achieving high classification performance.

Contribution

The study develops a new radiomics framework with IDCP and deep learning that outperforms existing methods in COVID-19 detection from CT scans.

Findings

Achieved 98.8% accuracy in classifying COVID-19 from CT images.

Outperformed over 10 current state-of-the-art models.

Demonstrated high precision and recall in COVID-19 detection.

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical imaging techniques like computed tomography (CT) scans have demonstrated effectiveness in combating the rapid spread of the virus. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct research on computerized models for the detection of COVID-19 using CT imaging. A novel processing method has been developed, utilizing radiomic features, to assist in the CT-based diagnosis of COVID-19. Given the lower specificity of traditional features in distinguishing between different causes of pulmonary diseases, the objective of this study is to develop a CT-based radiomics framework for the differentiation of COVID-19 from other lung diseases. The model is designed to focus on outlining COVID-19 lesions, as traditional features often lack specificity in this aspect. The model categorizes images into three classes: COVID-19, non-COVID-19, or normal. It employs enhancement auto-segmentation principles using intensity dark channel prior (IDCP) and deep neural networks (ALS-IDCP-DNN) within a defined range of analysis thresholds. A publicly available dataset comprising COVID-19, normal, and non-COVID-19 classes was utilized to validate the proposed model's effectiveness. The best performing classification model, Residual Neural Network with 50 layers (Resnet-50), attained an average accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score of 98.8%, 99%, 98%, and 98% respectively. These results demonstrate the capability of our model to accurately classify COVID-19 images, which could aid radiologists in diagnosing suspected COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, our model's performance surpasses that of more than 10 current state-of-the-art studies conducted on the same dataset.