Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale (ASST) Vimercate Hospital in Italy has implemented Fujifilm’s REiLI artificial intelligence system to assist healthcare practitioners on the frontline in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to the pandemic, operations and workflows in Italian hospitals were disrupted, which significantly increased workloads. As a consolidated partner of Vimercate, Fujifilm wanted to ensure its cutting-edge tools were available to reduce the impact caused by the rapid spread of COVID-19 by assisting in speeding up workflows.
REiLI’s processing of CT scans and chest x-rays provides important support for radiologists, offering them an extremely rapid, quantitative and objective assessment of the various zones of the lungs. The chest x-ray, in particular, is the best example of applying the new AI technology, in that it produces a quick and simple examination which provides a large amount of useful information for evaluating the presence of the pulmonary parenchymal consolidation caused by the virus.
The data obtained from artificial intelligence does not replace the molecular diagnoses performed using the nasopharyngeal swab (RT-PCR), nor does it replace the analyses and diagnoses performed by the radiologist. The data, however, does provide support in reporting on daily examinations conducted to monitor and study the development of the disease, and constitute a second opinion for the operators.
Commenting on the REiLI artificial intelligence system, Marcello Intotero, Head of Radiology Structure and Diagnostic Services Department at ASST Vimercate Hospital, said: “REiLI’s support has allowed our radiologists to report examinations with greater speed and efficiency. This new technology has given great support to the workflow; all images that the artificial intelligence system identified as suspected COVID-19 were subjected to processing by the radiologist in a faster and more urgent manner.”
REiLI is integrated with the Lunit Insight CXR module for the analysis and detection of the main types of pulmonary disease. The Lunit Insight CXR3 module was updated to provide support in specifically identifying the pulmonary parenchymal consolidation caused by the virus.
Giovanni Delgrossi, Head of the IT Department at ASST Vimercate noted that during the health emergency, more than 80 chest x-rays of patients were analysed each day at the hospital. “If no priority is set for the examinations to be reported, it may take hours to identify a particular x-ray which may require prompt, immediate action from doctors. In an emergency like the current one, we need to react and act even more quickly,” he said.
Discussing Fujifilm’s REiLI AI system, Nicola Bilibio, Clinical Specialist Medical Informatics (CSE) Fujifilm Europe GmbH explained that AI is a new operating concept projected towards collaborative intelligence between machine and man. “This is a fundamental tool for optimizing workflow and for screening patients for COVID-19. During the emergency, we promptly made our most advanced technologies available to make a concrete contribution to the crisis.”

• For more information, visit: http://reili.fujifilm.com
• About REiLI on YouTube: https://youtu.be/M6ISuRmvQbY

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