Artificial intelligence-based pulmonary embolism classification: Development and validation using real-world data

by Luan Oliveira da Silva, Maria Carolina Bueno da Silva, Guilherme Alberto Sousa Ribeiro, Thiago Fellipe Ortiz de Camargo, Paulo Victor dos Santos, Giovanna de Souza Mendes, Joselisa Peres Queiroz de Paiva, Anderson da Silva Soares, Márcio Rodrigues da Cunha Reis, Rafael Maffei Loureiro, Wesley Pacheco Calixto

This paper presents an artificial intelligence-based classification model for the detection of pulmonary embolism in computed tomography angiography. The proposed model, developed from public data and validated on a large dataset from a tertiary hospital, uses a two-dimensional approach that integrates temporal series to classify each slice of the examination and make predictions at both slice and examination levels. The training process consists of two stages: first using a convolutional neural network InceptionResNet V₂ and then a recurrent neural network long short-term memory model. This approach achieved an accuracy of 93% at the slice level and 77% at the examination level. External validation using a hospital dataset resulted in a precision of 86% for positive pulmonary embolism cases and 69% for negative pulmonary embolism cases. Notably, the model excels in excluding pulmonary embolism, achieving a precision of 73% and a recall of 82%, emphasizing its clinical value in reducing unnecessary interventions. In addition, the diverse demographic distribution in the validation dataset strengthens the model’s generalizability. Overall, this model offers promising potential for accurate detection and exclusion of pulmonary embolism, potentially streamlining diagnosis and improving patient outcomes.