iNDX.Ai, Cupertino, CA, USA.
School of Science, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway, 47500, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
Mol Genet Genomics. 2021 May;296(3):501-511. doi: 10.1007/s00438-021-01774-1. Epub 2021 Mar 20.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a recent viral pandemic that first began in December 2019, in Hunan wildlife market, Wuhan, China. The infection is caused by a coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 and clinically characterized by common symptoms including fever, dry cough, loss of taste/smell, myalgia and pneumonia in severe cases. With overwhelming spikes in infection and death, its pathogenesis yet remains elusive. Since the infection spread rapidly, its healthcare demands are overwhelming with uncontrollable emergencies. Although laboratory testing and analysis are developing at an enormous pace, the high momentum of severe cases demand more rapid strategies for initial screening and patient stratification. Several molecular biomarkers like C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 (IL6), eosinophils and cytokines, and artificial intelligence (AI) based screening approaches have been developed by various studies to assist this vast medical demand. This review is an attempt to collate the outcomes of such studies, thus highlighting the utility of AI in rapid screening of molecular markers along with chest X-rays and other COVID-19 symptoms to enable faster diagnosis and patient stratification. By doing so, we also found that molecular markers such as C-reactive protein, IL-6 eosinophils, etc. showed significant differences between severe and non-severe cases of COVID-19 patients. CT findings in the lungs also showed different patterns like lung consolidation significantly higher in patients with poor recovery and lung lesions and fibrosis being higher in patients with good recovery. Thus, from these evidences we perceive that an initial rapid screening using integrated AI approach could be a way forward in efficient patient stratification.
新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)是一种新型病毒疾病,于 2019 年 12 月在中国武汉的湖南野生动物市场首次爆发。该感染由冠状病毒 SARS-CoV-2 引起,临床上以发热、干咳、味觉/嗅觉丧失、肌痛和肺炎等常见症状为特征,在严重病例中更为明显。由于感染和死亡人数的急剧增加,其发病机制仍难以捉摸。由于感染迅速蔓延,其医疗保健需求巨大,紧急情况难以控制。虽然实验室检测和分析正在迅速发展,但严重病例数量的增加需要更快速的策略来进行初步筛选和患者分层。几项分子生物标志物,如 C 反应蛋白、白细胞介素 6(IL6)、嗜酸性粒细胞和细胞因子,以及基于人工智能(AI)的筛选方法,已被各种研究开发出来,以满足这一巨大的医疗需求。本综述试图整理这些研究的结果,从而突出 AI 在快速筛选分子标志物以及胸部 X 光和其他 COVID-19 症状方面的应用,以实现更快的诊断和患者分层。通过这样做,我们还发现 C 反应蛋白、IL-6 嗜酸性粒细胞等分子标志物在 COVID-19 患者的严重和非严重病例之间存在显著差异。肺部 CT 发现也显示出不同的模式,如肺实变在恢复不良的患者中明显更高,肺病变和纤维化在恢复良好的患者中更高。因此,从这些证据中我们可以看出,使用集成 AI 方法进行初步快速筛选可能是提高患者分层效率的一种方法。