Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that radiology would play a crucial role in the management of this new disease. Lung CT scans continue to play a key role in diagnosing the disease and, above all, in predicting disease progression. The analysis of radiology findings is therefore one of the major objectives – and key to an effective pandemic response approach. One of the obstacles to systematic and quantitative analyses of imaging data is the lack of standardized reporting. Traditional prose reports in particular are often not accessible to computer-assisted methods of analysis. Over the past few years, radiology has therefore witnessed the emergence of itemized reporting. Individual findings and measurements are linked to meta data which can be used to identify in a clear and reproducible manner how a specific finding was obtained, quantified, or deduced from other data. As the first project of its scope, the RACOON network will establish a nationwide infrastructure for the standardized collection of COVID-19-related imaging data and use them to fight the pandemic. Co-Project Lead Prof. Dr. Bernd Hamm, Head of Charité’s Department of Radiology, said: “RACOON enables us to collate the findings and data on pneumonia cases with suspected COVID-19 and use them for research purposes. It will be the first time that such large quantities of highly structured data will be made available to inform relevant decision-making processes in epidemiological studies, situational assessments, and early warning mechanisms”. Another aim is to make the data available for use with epidemiological early warning systems and medical assistance systems (including artificial intelligence-based systems).
(Source: Chartié Berlin)
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