A novel framework for rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 on computed tomography scans

Tallha Akram,Muhammad Attique,Muhammad Altaf,Aamir Shahzad,Rytis Maskeliūnas,Robertas Damaševičius,Salma Gul,S Syed Rameez Naqvi

doi:10.1007/s10044-020-00950-0

Abstract

Since the emergence of COVID-19, thousands of people undergo chest X-ray and computed tomography scan for its screening on everyday basis. This has increased the workload on radiologists, and a number of cases are in backlog. This is not only the case for COVID-19, but for the other abnormalities needing radiological diagnosis as well. In this work, we present an automated technique for rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 on computed tomography images. The proposed technique consists of four primary steps: (1) data collection and normalization, (2) extraction of the relevant features, (3) selection of the most optimal features and (4) feature classification. In the data collection step, we collect data for several patients from a public domain website, and perform preprocessing, which includes image resizing. In the successive step, we apply discrete wavelet transform and extended segmentation-based fractal texture analysis methods for extracting the relevant features. This is followed by application of an entropy controlled genetic algorithm for selection of the best features from each feature type, which are combined using a serial approach. In the final phase, the best features are subjected to various classifiers for the diagnosis. The proposed framework, when augmented with the Naive Bayes classifier, yields the best accuracy of 92.6%. The simulation results are supported by a detailed statistical analysis as a proof of concept.

Highlights

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is highly contagious and has rapidly spread globally infecting almost all the countries with millions of positive cases and more than 0.4 million deaths [1], and is continuously on the rise; see Table 1 and Figs. 1 and 2
Its early detection is possible with Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAAT), such as reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) [2], which is required to be interpreted by trained clinical laboratory personnel [3]
35 subjects are considered with their Coronavirus test positive, with details provided in Sect

Summary

Introduction

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is highly contagious and has rapidly spread globally infecting almost all the countries with millions of positive cases and more than 0.4 million deaths [1], and is continuously on the rise; see Table 1 and Figs. 1 and 2. The key factor to limit this pandemic situation is the early testing and diagnosis. Its early detection is possible with Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAAT), such as reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) [2], which is required to be interpreted by trained clinical laboratory personnel [3]. The initial symptoms of COVID19 are fever, fatigue and dry cough, and it predominantly affects lungs. Can be recorded in chest radiology images [4, 5]. This is why the clinicians worldwide are using chest X-rays (CXR) and computed tomography (CT) images as an alternative and fast method for the screening

Methods

Results

Conclusion