Smartphone Camera for Angiographic Computer Vision in Vascular Medicine

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to develop a TensorFlow Lite algorithm for angiography classification and to deploy it on a basic mobile smartphone device, thereby verifying the proof of concept for creating a comprehensive end-to-end mobile computer vision application for vascular medicine. Materials and Methods: After ethical approval by the local ethics committee, we collected institutional and open source peripheral angiograms of lower limbs. The angiograms were labeled by a researcher with more than 10 years of experience in vascular surgery. The labeling included dividing the angiograms according to their anatomical pattern into the Global Limb Anatomic Staging System (GLASS). The model was developed using the open-source TensorFlow framework for general image classification and deployed as an Android application. Results: The model utilized 700 angiograms, distributed as follows within the femoropoliteal GLASS disease (fp) categories: fp0 – 187 images, fp1 – 136 images, fp2 – 128 images, fp3 – 97 images, fp4 – 152 images. The reference dataset included 372 non-angiographic images (not_angio). Consequently, the entire model included 1,072 images. After training and deployment, the model demonstrated the following performance: a mean accuracy of 0.72. The best self-reported accuracy per class was for fp0 0.72, fp4 0.83 and not_angio 1.0 classes. Conclusion: We discovered that a smartphone camera could be utilized for angiographic computer vision through end-to-end applications accessible to every healthcare professional. However, the predictive abilities of the model are limited and require improvement. The development of a robust angiographic computer vision smartphone application should incorporate an upload function, undergo validation through head-to-head human-machine comparisons, potentially include segmentation, and feature a prospective design with explicit consent for using collected data in the development of AI models.