Deep learning automation of radiographic patterns for hallux valgus diagnosis

Artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning are becoming increasingly powerful tools in diagnostic and radiographic medicine. Deep learning has already been utilized for automated detection of pneumonia from chest radiographs, diabetic retinopathy, breast cancer, skin carcinoma classification, and metastatic lymphadenopathy detection, with diagnostic reliability akin to medical experts. In the World Journal of Orthopedics article, the authors apply an automated and AI-assisted technique to determine the hallux valgus angle (HVA) for assessing HV foot deformity. With the U-net neural network, the authors constructed an algorithm for pattern recognition of HV foot deformity from anteroposterior high-resolution radiographs. The performance of the deep learning algorithm was compared to expert clinician manual performance and assessed alongside clinician-clinician variability. The authors found that the AI tool was sufficient in assessing HVA and proposed the system as an instrument to augment clinical efficiency. Though further sophistication is needed to establish automated algorithms for more complicated foot pathologies, this work adds to the growing evidence supporting AI as a powerful diagnostic tool.