Deploying swarm intelligence in medical imaging

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel approach in using a swarm intelligence algorithm — Stochastic Diffusion Search — in medical imaging. After summarising the results of some previous work — showing how the algorithm assists the identification of metastasis in bone scans and microcalcifications on the mammographs — for the first time, the use of the algorithm in assessing the CT images of aorta is demonstrated along with its performance in detecting the nasogastric tube in chest X-ray. The swarm intelligence algorithm presented in this paper is adapted to address these particular tasks and its functionality is investigated by running the swarms on sample CT images and X-rays whose status have been determined by two senior radiologists.