The survival of humanity in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is a major public health concern worldwide. While many countries are urgently campaigning for herd immunity through vaccinations, effective medical innovations and technologies that enhance the work of medical teams remain at the heart of guaranteeing public health.  Associate Professor Dr. Charturong Tantibundhit, professor of the Electrical and Computer Engineering of Thammasat School of Engineering (TSE), will take you to identify the cause of success the medical AI innovation AIChest4All that is used for accurate screening of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients with instant results and actual application in public hospitals nationwide without cost.

TSE Counters the COVID Crisis with AI Technology.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of patients worldwide needed to seek hospital treatment at the same time. Recently, TSE has been releasing large numbers of medical research and innovations related to artificial intelligence or AI to shorten hospital procedures and expenses. Most recently, AIChest4All was created to precisely and swiftly sort symptoms and severity based on chest X-rays for such health issues as lung cancer, tuberculosis, heart abnormalities, chest abnormalities, and pneumonia.

AIChest4All by TSE Supports Medical Teams in Combatting COVID-19.

The new COVID-19 wave has led to large numbers of patients with pulmonary illnesses. Therefore, the TSE research team developed the capability to screen for an abnormality specific to COVID-19, namely pneumonia. Upon discovery, a medical team will further provide screening to determine whether the pneumonia was caused by COVID-19. The accuracy of screening results can be as high as 90%, so it will be possible to screen pneumonia patients with risk of COVID-19 in a timely manner. Previously, diagnosing abnormalities from X-rays with results interpreted by radiologists can require as many as 5 minutes per image. However, AIChest4All provides swift results by requiring just 1-2 seconds per image, which provides convenience in the work of medical teams.
An important component of AIChest4All that ensures improvement in the work of medical teams is the cloud system. Thus, it functions by connecting X-ray data from the hundreds of public hospitals nationwide under the supervision of the Department of Medical Services under the Ministry of Public Health for processing and returning the results instantly to the medical teams at their origins. It can support each use without even a second of interruption. In other words, it means that results can be obtained in real time. At present, TSE has installed a center for this system in two locations, namely, the Thammasat School of Engineering (Rangsit Campus) and Udonthani Cancer Hospital, and they have been designed for continuous 24-hour use every day.

At present, AIChest4All has totally changed the face of public sector investment. In the past, it was necessary to allocate millions of baht for budgets for accessing radiology services, but TSE has delivered AIChest4All to hundreds of public hospitals under the Department of Medical Services under the Department of Public Health for immediate use without any cost, with the hope that medical teams will have an effective medical tool that reduces complicated procedures that also minimizes budgetary expenses and that the Thai people will have access to fast and accurate services. TSE has passed on this intention to students in related programs such as in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Software Engineering (Soft-en) and Engineering Program in Industrial Electrical Engineering under the Program of Innovative Engineering (TU-PINE).

Associate Professor Dr. Charturong Tantibundhit added that AIChest4All is proof that artificial intelligence or AI is driving social progress and he welcomes young people who are interested to enter the path of professional developers. Currently, TSE boasts programs and teaching staff that are ready to support the development of high-quality human resources and impart the intention to develop research and innovations for the benefit of society with real-world applications.

Anyone interested can follow the news of the Thammasat School of Engineering or TSE at www.engr.tu.ac.th and the Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/ENGR.THAMMASAT.