Computer-aided detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) on chest radiography

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a newly described infection affecting, in most individuals, the lungs with progressive severe pneumonia. It is highly contagious and has a high mortality rate. It is unresponsive to antibiotics and the main methods of control involve barrier isolation. Because of these features, early diagnosis is required for control of the disease. Unlike other forms of severe pneumonia, the initial presenting chest radiograph may not disclose the pneumonia. A computer-aided detection system has been developed that marks locations on chest radiographs of minimal areas of pneumonia. It has been tested on a small series of chest radiographs with minimal SARS pneumonia and provided 88% sensitivity with 1.3 false-positive marks per image.