1
|
Biln NK, Bansback N, Shojania K, Puil L, Harrison M. A scoping review of triage approaches for the referral of patients with suspected inflammatory arthritis, from primary to rheumatology care. Rheumatol Int 2024; 44:2279-2292. [PMID: 38530455 DOI: 10.1007/s00296-024-05575-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024]
Abstract
We aimed to (1) identify existing triage approaches for referral of patients with suspected inflammatory arthritis (IA) from primary care physicians (PCP) to rheumatologists, (2) describe their characteristics and methodologies for clinical use, and (3) report their level of validation for use in a publicly funded healthcare system. The comprehensive search strategy of multiple databases up to October 2023 identified relevant literature and focussed on approaches applied at the PCP-Rheumatologist referral stage. Primary, quantitative studies, reported in English were included. Triage approaches were grouped into patient conditions as defined by the authors of the reports, including IA, its subtypes and combinations. 13952 records were identified, 425 full text reviewed and 55 reports of 53 unique studies were included. Heterogeneity in disease nomenclature and study sample pretest probability was found. The number of published studies rapidly increased after 2012. Studies were mostly from Europe and North America, in IA and Axial Spondyloarthritis (AxSpa). We found tools ranging the continuum of development with those best performing, indicated by the area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) >0.8), requiring only patient-reported questions. There were AUCs for some tools reported from multiple studies, these were in the outstanding to excellent range for the Early IA Questionnaire (EIAQ) (0.88 to 0.92), acceptable for the Case Finding AxSpa (CaFaSpa) (0.70 to 0.75), and poor to outstanding for the Psoriasis Epidemiology Screening Tool (PEST) (0.61 to 0.91). Given the clinical urgency to improve rheumatology referrals and considering the good.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Norma K Biln
- Faculty of Medicine, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Nick Bansback
- Faculty of Medicine, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- Arthritis Research Canada, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Centre for Advancing Health Outcomes, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Kam Shojania
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Rheumatology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- Arthritis Research Canada, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Centre for Advancing Health Outcomes, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Lorri Puil
- Faculty of Medicine, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Therapeutics Initiative, Department of Anaesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Mark Harrison
- Faculty of Medicine, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
- Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, 4625-2405 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada.
- Arthritis Research Canada, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
- Centre for Advancing Health Outcomes, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Cobb R, Cook GJR, Reader AJ. Deep Learned Segmentations of Inflammation for Novel ⁹⁹ mTc-maraciclatide Imaging of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Diagnostics (Basel) 2023; 13:3298. [PMID: 37958194 PMCID: PMC10647206 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics13213298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2023] [Revised: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes joint pain, stiffness, and erosion. Power Doppler ultrasound and MRI are imaging modalities used in detecting and monitoring the disease, but they have limitations. ⁹⁹mTc-maraciclatide gamma camera imaging is a novel technique that can detect joint inflammation at all sites in a single examination and has been shown to correlate with power Doppler ultrasound. In this work, we investigate if machine learning models can be used to automatically segment regions of normal, low, and highly inflamed tissue from 192 ⁹⁹mTc-maraciclatide scans of the hands and wrists from 48 patients. Two models were trained: a thresholding model that learns lower and upper threshold values and a neural-network-based nnU-Net model that uses a convolutional neural network (CNN). The nnU-Net model showed 0.94 ± 0.01, 0.51 ± 0.14, and 0.76 ± 0.16 modified Dice scores for segmenting the normal, low, and highly inflamed tissue, respectively, when compared to clinical segmented labels. This outperforms the thresholding model, which achieved modified Dice scores of 0.92 ± 0.01, 0.14 ± 0.07, and 0.35 ± 0.21, respectively. This is an important first step in developing artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist clinicians' workflow in the use of this new radiopharmaceutical.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Robert Cobb
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK;
| | - Gary J. R. Cook
- Department of Cancer Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK;
- King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ PET Centre, King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK
| | - Andrew J. Reader
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK;
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Madrid-García A, Merino-Barbancho B, Rodríguez-González A, Fernández-Gutiérrez B, Rodríguez-Rodríguez L, Menasalvas-Ruiz E. Understanding the role and adoption of artificial intelligence techniques in rheumatology research: An in-depth review of the literature. Semin Arthritis Rheum 2023; 61:152213. [PMID: 37315379 DOI: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2023.152213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The major and upward trend in the number of published research related to rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, in which artificial intelligence plays a key role, has exhibited the interest of rheumatology researchers in using these techniques to answer their research questions. In this review, we analyse the original research articles that combine both worlds in a five- year period (2017-2021). In contrast to other published papers on the same topic, we first studied the review and recommendation articles that were published during that period, including up to October 2022, as well as the publication trends. Secondly, we review the published research articles and classify them into one of the following categories: disease identification and prediction, disease classification, patient stratification and disease subtype identification, disease progression and activity, treatment response, and predictors of outcomes. Thirdly, we provide a table with illustrative studies in which artificial intelligence techniques have played a central role in more than twenty rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. Finally, the findings of the research articles, in terms of disease and/or data science techniques employed, are highlighted in a discussion. Therefore, the present review aims to characterise how researchers are applying data science techniques in the rheumatology medical field. The most immediate conclusions that can be drawn from this work are: multiple and novel data science techniques have been used in a wide range of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases including rare diseases; the sample size and the data type used are heterogeneous, and new technical approaches are expected to arrive in the short-middle term.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alfredo Madrid-García
- Grupo de Patología Musculoesquelética. Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Prof. Martin Lagos s/n, Madrid, 28040, Spain; Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Avenida Complutense, 30, Madrid, 28040, Spain.
| | - Beatriz Merino-Barbancho
- Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Avenida Complutense, 30, Madrid, 28040, Spain
| | | | - Benjamín Fernández-Gutiérrez
- Grupo de Patología Musculoesquelética. Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Prof. Martin Lagos s/n, Madrid, 28040, Spain
| | - Luis Rodríguez-Rodríguez
- Grupo de Patología Musculoesquelética. Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Prof. Martin Lagos s/n, Madrid, 28040, Spain
| | - Ernestina Menasalvas-Ruiz
- Centro de Tecnología Biomédica. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, 28223, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Momtazmanesh S, Nowroozi A, Rezaei N. Artificial Intelligence in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Current Status and Future Perspectives: A State-of-the-Art Review. Rheumatol Ther 2022; 9:1249-1304. [PMID: 35849321 PMCID: PMC9510088 DOI: 10.1007/s40744-022-00475-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 06/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Investigation of the potential applications of artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques, is an exponentially growing field in medicine and healthcare. These methods can be critical in providing high-quality care to patients with chronic rheumatological diseases lacking an optimal treatment, like rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which is the second most prevalent autoimmune disease. Herein, following reviewing the basic concepts of AI, we summarize the advances in its applications in RA clinical practice and research. We provide directions for future investigations in this field after reviewing the current knowledge gaps and technical and ethical challenges in applying AI. Automated models have been largely used to improve RA diagnosis since the early 2000s, and they have used a wide variety of techniques, e.g., support vector machine, random forest, and artificial neural networks. AI algorithms can facilitate screening and identification of susceptible groups, diagnosis using omics, imaging, clinical, and sensor data, patient detection within electronic health record (EHR), i.e., phenotyping, treatment response assessment, monitoring disease course, determining prognosis, novel drug discovery, and enhancing basic science research. They can also aid in risk assessment for incidence of comorbidities, e.g., cardiovascular diseases, in patients with RA. However, the proposed models may vary significantly in their performance and reliability. Despite the promising results achieved by AI models in enhancing early diagnosis and management of patients with RA, they are not fully ready to be incorporated into clinical practice. Future investigations are required to ensure development of reliable and generalizable algorithms while they carefully look for any potential source of bias or misconduct. We showed that a growing body of evidence supports the potential role of AI in revolutionizing screening, diagnosis, and management of patients with RA. However, multiple obstacles hinder clinical applications of AI models. Incorporating the machine and/or deep learning algorithms into real-world settings would be a key step in the progress of AI in medicine.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sara Momtazmanesh
- School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Network of Immunity in Infection, Malignancy and Autoimmunity (NIIMA), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran
- Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Gharib St, Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran, Iran
| | - Ali Nowroozi
- School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Network of Immunity in Infection, Malignancy and Autoimmunity (NIIMA), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran
| | - Nima Rezaei
- Network of Immunity in Infection, Malignancy and Autoimmunity (NIIMA), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran.
- Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Gharib St, Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran, Iran.
- Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Reed M, Rampono B, Turner W, Harsanyi A, Lim A, Paramalingam S, Massasso D, Thakkar V, Mundae M, Rampono E. A multicentre validation study of a smartphone application to screen hand arthritis. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 2022; 23:433. [PMID: 35534813 PMCID: PMC9081322 DOI: 10.1186/s12891-022-05376-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Arthritis is a common condition, and the prompt and accurate assessment of hand arthritis in primary care is an area of unmet clinical need. We have previously developed and tested a screening tool combining machine-learning algorithms, to help primary care physicians assess patients presenting with arthritis affecting the hands. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of the screening tool among a number of different Rheumatologists. METHODS Two hundred and forty-eight consecutive new patients presenting to 7 private Rheumatology practices across Australia were enrolled. Using a smartphone application, each patient had photographs taken of their hands, completed a brief 9-part questionnaire, and had a single examination result (wrist irritability) recorded. The Rheumatologist diagnosis was entered following a 45-minute consultation. Multiple machine learning models were applied to both the photographic and survey/examination results, to generate a screening outcome for the primary diagnoses of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis. RESULTS The combined algorithms in the application performed well in identifying and discriminating between different forms of hand arthritis. The algorithms were able to predict rheumatoid arthritis with accuracy, precision, recall and specificity of 85.1, 80.0, 88.1 and 82.7% respectively. The corresponding results for psoriatic arthritis were 95.2, 76.9, 90.9 and 95.8%, and for osteoarthritis were 77.4, 78.3, 80.6 and 73.7%. The results were maintained when each contributor was excluded from the analysis. The median time to capture all data across the group was 2 minutes and 59 seconds. CONCLUSIONS This multicentre study confirms the results of the pilot study, and indicates that the performance of the screening tool is maintained across a group of different Rheumatologists. The smartphone application can provide a screening result from a combination of machine-learning algorithms applied to hand images and patient symptom responses. This could be used to assist primary care physicians in the assessment of patients presenting with hand arthritis, and has the potential to improve the clinical assessment and management of such patients.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mark Reed
- , Perth, Australia.
- Hollywood Medical Centre, Suite 41, 85 Monash Avenue, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
6
|
Folle L, Simon D, Tascilar K, Krönke G, Liphardt AM, Maier A, Schett G, Kleyer A. Deep Learning-Based Classification of Inflammatory Arthritis by Identification of Joint Shape Patterns—How Neural Networks Can Tell Us Where to “Deep Dive” Clinically. Front Med (Lausanne) 2022; 9:850552. [PMID: 35360728 PMCID: PMC8960274 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2022.850552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective: We investigated whether a neural network based on the shape of joints can differentiate between rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and healthy controls (HC), which class patients with undifferentiated arthritis (UA) are assigned to, and whether this neural network is able to identify disease-specific regions in joints. Methods We trained a novel neural network on 3D articular bone shapes of hand joints of RA and PsA patients as well as HC. Bone shapes were created from high-resolution peripheral-computed-tomography (HR-pQCT) data of the second metacarpal bone head. Heat maps of critical spots were generated using GradCAM. After training, we fed shape patterns of UA into the neural network to classify them into RA, PsA, or HC. Results Hand bone shapes from 932 HR-pQCT scans of 617 patients were available. The network could differentiate the classes with an area-under-receiver-operator-curve of 82% for HC, 75% for RA, and 68% for PsA. Heat maps identified anatomical regions such as bare area or ligament attachments prone to erosions and bony spurs. When feeding UA data into the neural network, 86% were classified as “RA,” 11% as “PsA,” and 3% as “HC” based on the joint shape. Conclusion We investigated neural networks to differentiate the shape of joints of RA, PsA, and HC and extracted disease-specific characteristics as heat maps on 3D joint shapes that can be utilized in clinical routine examination using ultrasound. Finally, unspecific diseases such as UA could be grouped using the trained network based on joint shape.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lukas Folle
- Pattern Recognition Lab—Computer Science, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - David Simon
- Department of Internal Medicine 3—Rheumatology and Immunology, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
- Deutsches Zentrum für Immuntherapie, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Koray Tascilar
- Department of Internal Medicine 3—Rheumatology and Immunology, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
- Deutsches Zentrum für Immuntherapie, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Gerhard Krönke
- Department of Internal Medicine 3—Rheumatology and Immunology, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
- Deutsches Zentrum für Immuntherapie, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Anna-Maria Liphardt
- Department of Internal Medicine 3—Rheumatology and Immunology, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
- Deutsches Zentrum für Immuntherapie, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Andreas Maier
- Pattern Recognition Lab—Computer Science, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Georg Schett
- Department of Internal Medicine 3—Rheumatology and Immunology, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
- Deutsches Zentrum für Immuntherapie, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Arnd Kleyer
- Department of Internal Medicine 3—Rheumatology and Immunology, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
- Deutsches Zentrum für Immuntherapie, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
- *Correspondence: Arnd Kleyer
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Kedra J, Davergne T, Braithwaite B, Servy H, Gossec L. Machine learning approaches to improve disease management of patients with rheumatoid arthritis: review and future directions. Expert Rev Clin Immunol 2021; 17:1311-1321. [PMID: 34890271 DOI: 10.1080/1744666x.2022.2017773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Although the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has improved in major way over the last decades, this disease still leads to an important burden for patients and society, and there is a need to develop more personalized approaches. Machine learning (ML) methods are more and more used in health-related studies and can be applied to different sorts of data (clinical, radiological, or 'omics' data). Such approaches may improve the management of patients with RA. AREAS COVERED In this paper, we propose a review regarding ML approaches applied to RA. A scoping literature search was performed in PubMed, in September 2021 using the following MeSH terms: 'arthritis, rheumatoid' and 'machine learning'. Based on this search, the usefulness of ML methods for RA diagnosis, monitoring, and prediction of response to treatment and RA outcomes, is discussed. EXPERT OPINION ML methods have the potential to revolutionize RA-related research and improve disease management and patient care. Nevertheless, these models are not yet ready to contribute fully to rheumatologists' daily practice. Indeed, these methods raise technical, methodological, and ethical issues, which should be addressed properly to allow their implementation. Collaboration between data scientists, clinical researchers, and physicians is therefore required to move this field forward.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Kedra
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, Paris, France.,Rheumatology Department, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France
| | - Thomas Davergne
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, Paris, France
| | | | | | - Laure Gossec
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, Paris, France.,Rheumatology Department, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France
| |
Collapse
|