Comprehensive Summary
This study employs a multimodal model trained on chest X-ray images and clinical data to create an osteoporosis screening program. Chest X-ray images and clinical data, including age, sex, BMI, blood composition, and chest X-ray descriptive information, were collected for patients as well as Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) data. An image model and a clinical parameter model, trained on chest X-ray images and clinical data, respectively, were then integrated into a multimodal model. Overall, the model performed relatively well, requiring only a small amount of training data and providing quick processing capability. Area under the curve (AUC) values were reported as 0.975, a significant improvement over models developed solely on X-ray imaging. Despite the findings, the project still lacks generalizability and requires further training across different populations, especially since patients were selected from a limited age group and demographic profile. In addition, chest X-ray imaging inherently limits lumbar spine and humeral head imaging, especially since those two sites are typically analyzed for osteoporosis diagnosis.
Outcomes and Implications
Despite the project's limitations, this study demonstrates capability across several imaging fields. Further research into integrating clinical data alongside pure image training for multimodal model development has high potential to improve diagnostic accuracy. Assuming more diverse data is used to train future multimodal models, this research has the potential to be applied across all AI imaging fields for greater precision and, thus, more likely clinical implementation.