KUCHING: The healthcare industry needs to capitalise on the advancement of radiological technology for new imaging techniques.
Minister of Health Dr Zaliha Mustafa said among others, the technology includes digital imaging, 3D imaging, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and hybrid imaging.
“With this, it will enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis, more precise treatment planning, and improved monitoring of disease progression,” she said.
She said this in her text of speech which was read out by State Health Department (Public Health) deputy director Dr Veronica Lugah during the the Asia Australasia Conference for Radiological Technologists (AACRT) 2023 at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) today.
Looking ahead, she said there is a need to address the challenges and opportunities presented by AI in medical imaging, placing great emphasis on responsible integration and human oversight.
“Today, medical imaging technology is equipped with AI and ML, bringing promising innovation to healthcare and has the ability to analyse medical images with a high degree of accuracy and consistency.
“AI algorithms can analyse large volumes of radiological images and provide quantitative measurements and insights that can aid in the diagnosis of various conditions which can help clinicians diagnose and treat patients more effectively,” she said.
Dr Zaliha added there have been numerous research projects on AI medical imaging conducted in Malaysia, with one of the research projects conducted by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the research body under the Ministry of Health that includes Creation and Sharing of a National Covid-19 Chest Radiograph Repository for Training and Validation of Deep Learning Models (NC4R), 2020.
“During the early period of Covid-19 outbreak, diagnosis depended purely on RT-PCR. With the surge in symptomatic cases, it was important to look for alternative means of either screening or diagnosing the disease.
“As lungs were the prominent organ involved in Covid-19, several researchers globally developed image AI algorithms where fast screening methods were used based on patients’ chest x-rays and CT scans,” she said, while adding that these solutions lacked testing with local datasets.
Thus, she said the project by NIH, NC4R, became one of the first research projects to collect radiographic images of more than 3,000 Covid-19 patients with clinical information for the use of developing, testing and validating AI models for the diagnosis of Covid-19 in Malaysia.
“Moving forward, lessons learned during the Covid-19 are now being applied to other diseases using methods of image processing and AI,” she said.
Commenting on the conference, she said it presents a unique opportunity for radiological technologists, radiographers and other professionals to delve into critical areas such as patient safety, new technologies, professional sustainability in the post-pandemic era, professional networking, and exploration of research possibilities,” she said.
Themed ‘Honouring the Past, Treasuring the Present and Nurturing the Future,’ the three-day conference from Aug 11 to 13 is organised by the Malaysian Society of Radiographers and the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists.
About 500 delegates comprising of radiologists, radiation technologists, sonographers, medical machinery suppliers, pharmaceutical companies, students and researchers are participating.
AACRT 2023 Conference Convenor and Malaysian Society of Radiographers president Sawal Marsait were among those present.
