The Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology (SIRM) released a statement on 29 April about the appropriate use of CT and artificial intelligence (AI) in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The main points in the four-page document are as follows:
- SIRM supports research on the use of AI as a predictive and prognostic decision-support system, especially in hospitalized patients and those admitted to intensive care.
- SIRM does not support the use of CT with AI for screening or as a first-line test to diagnose COVID-19.
- Chest CT with AI cannot replace reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing.
"Few data are available about the role of AI as a radiological decision-support system in COVID-19 patients; it is too early to apply this technology in clinical practice as first-line modality," noted lead author Prof. Emanuele Neri, from the University of Pisa, and colleagues. "There are in fact many ethical and medicolegal implications in the use of this technology that, even in this emergency situation, do not allow its routine use."
A clinical validation phase is needed with single or multicenter trials, as well as standardized approaches for imaging methodology and AI algorithms, they wrote.
You can read the full SIRM statement in La Radiologia Medica.
