Diagnosis of respiratory diseases from lung images

Professor Nick Pears is leading the international collaboration with Dr Elakkiya R, of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India (BITS Pilani), to research the diagnosis of respiratory diseases from X-ray chest images, using self-supervised deep learning.

Nick says: “The idea behind the research is to use deep learning to try to examine X-ray images to detect respiratory diseases such as lung cancer or covid-19 or bronchitis.

“It could be helpful in parts of the world where there may not be a broad skill set across medical staff; for example, where there’s a shortage of radiographers.”

The research came about after Dr Elakkiya R approached Nick to supervise her PhD. several years ago, and although that never came to fruition they kept in touch, and the collaboration began.

“Part of my expertise is in medical image segmentation,” he says. “And that is really what led to us working together. It’s a small project but if it works there’s potentially a massive impact because it could save people’s lives. We could potentially improve the automation of respiratory disease diagnosis, which obviously is massively beneficial.”