Artificial intelligence (AI) is helping Erasmus MC pulmonologists navigate more precisely while performing a bronchoscopy. A bronchoscopy is a procedure to look inside the lungs and remove pieces of tissue. Thanks to the use of AI, the procedure takes less time and releases less radiation. It also reduces the risk of pneumothorax or bleeding as a result of the procedure.
Thanks to AI, pulmonologists can now navigate in a more targeted way and work more precisely. In 2023, they already took the first step by starting navigation bronchoscopy. Here, live 3D images of the lungs help to determine the route. The pulmonologists use a CT scanner for this.
Visual information
Now they are going a step further with the application of so-called convolutional neural network (CNN). This is a type of AI that is particularly good at recognizing images and patterns. How that works is somewhat similar to the way our brain processes visual information. Instead of analyzing an entire image at once, a CNN looks at small pieces of the image to identify important features. Think shapes and colors. It then combines these bits of information to make sense of the entire image.
'Google Maps'
For example, the equipment recognizes the airways and “blood vessels on the inside of the patient's lungs. “A CT scan gives a different perspective than how we see the lungs from the inside. Compare it to a manual accompanying an IKEA cabinet. In it, you see a drawn top, bottom or front view. But you don't see the cabinet from the inside. That's where this equipment helps us,” explains lung specialist Arnold Duinisveld. A CNN translates the image from the CT scan into a picture of what the airways look like from the inside. Doctors indicate the area they want to reach and the equipment suggests to them the routes to get there safely.
Duinisveld says the new method has many advantages. Per procedure, they save an average of half an hour in time and the number of X-ray images is reduced. That also means less radiation for the patient. The software also shows where there are large blood vessels. That, according to Duinisveld, allows them to take a biopsy even more safely, reducing the risk of bleeding or pneumothorax.
Scientists in Leeds just three years ago developed a tentacle robot for lung research. This catheter can penetrate very deep into the lungs for examination or treatment. The magnetic catheter is two millimeters wide and can adapt to the anatomy of the bronchial tree. Thus, most parts of the lung can be reached.
