# Fibrosis-Net: A Tailored Deep Convolutional Neural Network Design for Prediction of Pulmonary Fibrosis Progression from Chest CT Images

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.04008 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.04008/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 12 of its 41 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Mar 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [EfficientNet: Rethinking Model Scaling for Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.11946/) (2019)
- [Identity Mappings in Deep Residual Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.05027/) (2016)
- [COVID-Net: A Tailored Deep Convolutional Neural Network Design for Detection of COVID-19 Cases from Chest X-Ray Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.09871/) (2020)
- [COVIDNet-CT: A Tailored Deep Convolutional Neural Network Design for Detection of COVID-19 Cases from Chest CT Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.05383/) (2020)
- [Do Explanations Reflect Decisions? A Machine-centric Strategy to Quantify the Performance of Explainability Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.07387/) (2019)
- [COVID-Net CT-2: Enhanced Deep Neural Networks for Detection of COVID-19 from Chest CT Images Through Bigger, More Diverse Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.07433/) (2021)
- [FermiNets: Learning generative machines to generate efficient neural networks via generative synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.05989/) (2018)
- [COVID-Net S: Towards computer-aided severity assessment via training and validation of deep neural networks for geographic extent and opacity extent scoring of chest X-rays for SARS-CoV-2 lung disease severity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.12855/) (2020)
- [Multi-source Transfer Learning with Convolutional Neural Networks for Lung Pattern Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.02589/) (2016)
- [CancerNet-SCa: Tailored Deep Neural Network Designs for Detection of Skin Cancer from Dermoscopy Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.10702/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Fibro-CoSANet: Pulmonary Fibrosis Prognosis Prediction using a Convolutional Self Attention Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.05889/) (2021)
- [Insights into Data through Model Behaviour: An Explainability-driven Strategy for Data Auditing for Responsible Computer Vision Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09177/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating chronic lung disease that causes irreparable lung tissue scarring and damage, resulting in progressive loss in lung capacity and has no known cure. A critical step in the treatment and management of pulmonary fibrosis is the assessment of lung function decline, with computed tomography (CT) imaging being a particularly effective method for determining the extent of lung damage caused by pulmonary fibrosis. Motivated by this, we introduce Fibrosis-Net, a deep convolutional neural network design tailored for the prediction of pulmonary fibrosis progression from chest CT images. More specifically, machine-driven design exploration was leveraged to determine a strong architectural design for CT lung analysis, upon which we build a customized network design tailored for predicting forced vital capacity (FVC) based on a patient's CT scan, initial spirometry measurement, and clinical metadata. Finally, we leverage an explainability-driven performance validation strategy to study the decision-making behaviour of Fibrosis-Net as to verify that predictions are based on relevant visual indicators in CT images. Experiments using a patient cohort from the OSIC Pulmonary Fibrosis Progression Challenge showed that the proposed Fibrosis-Net is able to achieve a significantly higher modified Laplace Log Likelihood score than the winning solutions on the challenge. Furthermore, explainability-driven performance validation demonstrated that the proposed Fibrosis-Net exhibits correct decision-making behaviour by leveraging clinically-relevant visual indicators in CT images when making predictions on pulmonary fibrosis progress. While Fibrosis-Net is not yet a production-ready clinical assessment solution, we hope that its release in open source manner will encourage researchers, clinicians, and citizen data scientists alike to leverage and build upon it.