Artificial intelligence for the diagnosis of lung disorders

17 June 2019

ArtiQ, a KU Leuven spin-off company which helps doctors diagnose, treat and monitor respiratory disorders, has conclued its seed financing round with € 1 million. The money will be used to launch ArtiQ|PFT, a software platform that will be able to quickly and reliably evaluate patients' lung capacity. The platform uses artificial intelligence to interpret pulmonary function tests and thus improves the diagnosis of lung diseases. This is usually done manually by specialists. The software analyses the results of pulmonary tests in a matter of seconds, resulting in an objective and reliable interpretation, with better accuracy than a human analysis.

Arts bekijkt resultaten van longfunctiemeting op computer

"De software kan een goede tweede mening vormen voor artsen", zegt prof. dr. Wim Janssens.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to our machine-learning algorithms, computers can be twice as accurate as pulmonologists.
Prof. dr. Wim Janssens - pulmonologist

The software was developed for and partly by doctors of the University Hospitals Leuven. The programme has been clinically validated and has supported University Hospitals Leuven doctors for over a year during the diagnosis and treatment of lung disorders. At the moment, the platform can recognise nine common respiratory disorders, such as chronic bronchitis and lung emphysema, asthma and interstitial lung diseases.

Prof. dr. Wim Janssens, pulmonologist at the University Hospitals Leuven: “Pulmonary function tests provide extensive numerical outputs. Their patterns need to be interpreted to come to a diagnosis. Thanks to our machine-learning algorithms, computers can be twice as accurate as pulmonologists. Our software can serve as a good second opinion for doctors, especially for rare but very specific patterns. It can be particularly helpful in recognizing rare but specific patterns.”

The new software can be linked via the cloud to digital patient records. The software can also be linked directly to pulmonary function test machines. After the rest, an automatically generated report is added to the patient record. By the end of the year ArtiQ wants to implement the technology in other Belgian hospitals.

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Last edit: 14 February 2022