The use of artificial intelligence for early detection of acromegaly from patients’ photographs

Abstract

Acromegaly is a rare endocrine disease. It manifests with a metabolic disorder and typical physical changes. It evolves gradually and the first obvious signs appears between 7 to 10 years. The effects on patients are both physical and psychological. The diagnostic delay is associated with increased mortality and disability and the drastic changes, in many cases, are irreversible. Early diagnosis will help patients with acromegaly live better lives and reduce the financial burden of their condition. We aim by this survey to investigate the ways artificial intelligence where used for the early detection of acromegaly from photographs. No literature survey was conducted, to our knowledge, that tackle the different artificial intelligence techniques used for this purpose, their results and limitations.