POLCOVID: a multicenter multiclass chest X-ray database (Poland, 2020-2021).

The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has put healthcare systems worldwide to their limits, resulting in increased waiting time for diagnosis and required medical assistance. With chest radiographs (CXR) being one of the most common COVID-19 diagnosis methods, many artificial intelligence tools for image-based COVID-19 detection have been developed, often trained on a small number of images from COVID-19-positive patients. Thus, the need for high-quality and well-annotated CXR image databases increased. This paper introduces POLCOVID dataset, containing chest X-ray (CXR) images of patients with COVID-19 or other-type pneumonia, and healthy individuals gathered from 15 Polish hospitals. The original radiographs are accompanied by the preprocessed images limited to the lung area and the corresponding lung masks obtained with the segmentation model. Moreover, the manually created lung masks are provided for a part of POLCOVID dataset and the other four publicly available CXR image collections. POLCOVID dataset can help in pneumonia or COVID-19 diagnosis, while the set of matched images and lung masks may serve for the development of lung segmentation solutions.

Application of artificial intelligence in diagnosing COVID-19 disease symptoms on chest X-rays: A systematic review.

This systematic review focuses on using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect COVID-19 infection with the help of X-ray images. Methodology: In January 2022, the authors searched PubMed, Embase and Scopus using specific medical subject headings terms and filters. All articles were independently reviewed by two reviewers. All conflicts resulting from a misunderstanding were resolved by a third independent researcher. After assessing abstracts and article usefulness, eliminating repetitions and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, six studies were found to be qualified for this study. Results: The findings from individual studies differed due to the various approaches of the authors. Sensitivity was 72.59%-100%, specificity was 79%-99.9%, precision was 74.74%-98.7%, accuracy was 76.18%-99.81%, and the area under the curve was 95.24%-97.7%. Conclusion: AI computational models used to assess chest X-rays in the process of diagnosing COVID-19 should achieve sufficiently high sensitivity and specificity. Their results and performance should be repeatable to make them dependable for clinicians. Moreover, these additional diagnostic tools should be more affordable and faster than the currently available procedures. The performance and calculations of AI-based systems should take clinical data into account.

SARS-CoV-2 infection, hormonal contraception and pulmonary embolism in a 17-year-old female patient

The paper presents the history of a 17-year-old patient admitted to the paediatric cardiology department in a life-threatening condition with dyspnoea, blood desaturation up to 90% and chest pain. The patient contracted COVID-19 (she was not vaccinated), and additionally treated her acne with oestrogen hormonal drugs. Computed tomography of the chest revealed massive embolic changes in the pulmonary artery and its branches. After introduction of heparin under the control of activated partial thromboplastin time and then warfarin under the control of international normalised ratio (INR), regression of changes was achieved;however, the arterial vessel narrowed up to the upper lobe of the right lung. During cardiac catheterisation, the vessel was widened with a balloon and successfully opened. Follow-up echocardiography showed regression of changes, the dimensions of the right heart decreased, and the features of pulmonary hypertension disappeared. During the exercise test, she reached stage 4. After 2 months, to avoid patient exposure to radiation, follow-up magnetic resonance imaging of pulmonary vessels was performed instead of computed tomography, showing partial restoration of the artery. Currently, the patient is still taking warfarin (INR 2.5–3.5), is in good general condition and a lung scan is planned in the future.

Indications for imaging studies in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients - recommendations of the Polish Medical Society of Radiology.

The pandemic involving COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, due to its severe symptoms and high transmission rate, has gone on to pose a control challenge for healthcare systems all around the world. We present the third version of the recommendations of the Polish Medical Society of Radiology (PMSR), presuming that our knowledge on COVID-19 will advance further rapidly, to the extent that further supplementation and modification will prove necessary. These recommendations involve rules of conduct, procedures, and safety measures that should be introduced in radiology departments, as well as indications for imaging studies.