Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Comput. Sci.
Sec. Computer Vision
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcomp.2024.1438126

Automated Diagnosis of Respiratory Diseases from Lung Ultrasound Videos Ensuring XAI: An Innovative Hybrid Model Approach

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 United International University, Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • 2 Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    An automated computerized approach can aid radiologists in the early diagnosis of lung disease from video modalities. This study focuses on the difficulties associated with identifying and categorizing respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, influenza, and pneumonia. We propose a novel method that combines three-dimensional (3D) models, model explainability (XAI), and a Decision Support System (DSS) that utilizes lung ultrasound (LUS) videos. The objective of the study is to improve the quality of video frames, boost the diversity of the dataset, maintain the sequence of frames, and create a hybrid 3D model (Three-Dimensional Time Distributed Convolutional Neural Network-Long short-term memory (TD-CNN-LSTM-LungNet)) for precise classification. The proposed methodology involves applying morphological opening and contour detection to improve frame quality, utilizing geometrical augmentation for dataset balance, introducing a graph-based approach for frame sequencing, and implementing a hybrid 3D model combining time-distributed CNN and LSTM networks utilizing vast ablation study. Model explainability is ensured through heatmap generation, region of interest segmentation, and Probability Density Function (PDF) graphs illustrating feature distribution. Our model TD-CNN-LSTM-LungNet attained a remarkable accuracy of 96.57% in classifying LUS videos into pneumonia, COVID-19, normal, and other lung disease classes, which is above compared to ten traditional transfer learning models experimented with in this study. The eleven-ablation case study reduced training costs and redundancy. K-fold cross-validation and accuracy-loss curves demonstrated model generalization. The DSS, incorporating Layer Class Activation Mapping (LayerCAM) and heatmaps, improved interpretability and reliability, and PDF graphs facilitated precise decision-making by identifying feature boundaries. The DSS facilitates clinical marker analysis, and the validation by using the proposed algorithms highlights its impact on a reliable diagnosis outcome. Our proposed methodology could assist radiologists in accurately detecting and comprehending the patterns of respiratory disorders.

    Keywords: Lung ultrasound, COVID-19, LayerCAM, decision support system, LSTM, CNN

    Received: 25 May 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Abian, Khan, Karim, Azam, Fahad, Shafiabady, Yeo and De Boer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Asif Karim, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.