# Vision-Language Model Based Multi-Expert Fusion for CT Image Classification

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15154 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.15154/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 17 of its 28 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 16 Mar 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 17 of 17)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [mixup: Beyond Empirical Risk Minimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.09412/) (2017)
- [Out-of-Distribution Generalization via Risk Extrapolation (REx)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.00688/) (2020)
- [MedCLIP: Contrastive Learning from Unpaired Medical Images and Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.10163/) (2022)
- [MedGemma Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.05201/) (2025)
- [Deep Transparent Prediction through Latent Representation Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.07044/) (2020)
- [MIA-COV19D: COVID-19 Detection through 3-D Chest CT Image Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.07524/) (2021)
- [A Deep Neural Architecture for Harmonizing 3-D Input Data Analysis and Decision Making in Medical Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.00175/) (2023)
- [Domain adaptation, Explainability & Fairness in AI for Medical Image Analysis: Diagnosis of COVID-19 based on 3-D Chest CT-scans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02192/) (2024)
- [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)
- [COVID-19 Computer-aided Diagnosis through AI-assisted CT Imaging Analysis: Deploying a Medical AI System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.06242/) (2024)
- [SAM2CLIP2SAM: Vision Language Model for Segmentation of 3D CT Scans for Covid-19 Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.15728/) (2024)
- [CMC v2: Towards More Accurate COVID-19 Detection with Discriminative Video Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.14557/) (2022)
- [Boosting COVID-19 Severity Detection with Infection-aware Contrastive Mixup Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.14559/) (2022)
- [Advancing COVID-19 Detection in 3D CT Scans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.11953/) (2024)
- [Multi-Source COVID-19 Detection via Variance Risk Extrapolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.23208/) (2025)
- [Advancing Lung Disease Diagnosis in 3D CT Scans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.00993/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Robust detection of COVID-19 from chest CT remains challenging in multi-institutional settings due to substantial source shift, source imbalance, and hidden test-source identities. In this work, we propose a three-stage source-aware multi-expert framework for multi-source COVID-19 CT classification. First, we build a lung-aware 3D expert by combining original CT volumes and lung-extracted CT volumes for volumetric classification. Second, we develop two MedSigLIP-based experts: a slice-wise representation and probability learning module, and a Transformer-based inter-slice context modeling module for capturing cross-slice dependency. Third, we train a source classifier to predict the latent source identity of each test scan. By leveraging the predicted source information, we perform model fusion and voting based on different experts. On the validation set covering all four sources, the Stage 1 model achieves the best macro-F1 of 0.9711, ACC of 0.9712, and AUC of 0.9791. Stage~2a and Stage~2b achieve the best AUC scores of 0.9864 and 0.9854, respectively. Stage~3 source classifier reaches 0.9107 ACC and 0.9114 F1. These results demonstrate that source-aware expert modeling and hierarchical voting provide an effective solution for robust COVID-19 CT classification under heterogeneous multi-source conditions.