Covid-19 Imaging Tools: How Big Data is Big?

J Med Syst. 2021 Jun 3;45(7):71. doi: 10.1007/s10916-021-01747-2.

Abstract

In this paper, considering year 2020 and Covid-19, we analyze medical imaging tools and their performance scores in accordance with the dataset size and their complexity. For this, we mainly consider AI-driven tools that employ two different types of image data, namely chest Computed Tomography (CT) and X-ray. We elaborate on their strengths and weaknesses by taking the following important factors into account: i) dataset size; ii) model fitting criteria (over-fitting and under-fitting); iii) transfer learning in the deep learning era; and iv) data augmentation. Medical imaging tools do not explicitly analyze model fitting. Also, using transfer learning, with fewer data, one could possibly build Covid-19 deep learning model but they are limited to education and training. We observe that, in both image modalities, neither the dataset size nor does data augmentation work well for Covid-19 screening purposes because a large dataset does not guarantee all possible Covid-19 manifestations and data augmentation does not create new Covid-19 cases.

Keywords: Big data; Chest Computed Tomography; Chest X-ray; Covid-19; Medical imaging tools.

MeSH terms

  • Big Data*
  • COVID-19 / diagnostic imaging*
  • Deep Learning
  • Humans
  • Radiography, Thoracic*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed*