A deep learning approach for acute liver failure prediction with combined fully connected and convolutional neural networks

Technol Health Care. 2024 Apr 17. doi: 10.3233/THC-248048. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Background: Acute Liver Failure (ALF) is a critical medical condition with rapid development, often caused by viral infections, hepatotoxic drug abuse, or other severe liver diseases. Timely and accurate prediction of ALF occurrence is clinically crucial. However, predicting ALF poses challenges due to the diverse physiological differences among patients and the dynamic nature of the disease.

Objective: This study introduces a deep learning approach that combines fully connected and convolutional neural networks for effective ALF prediction. The goal is to overcome limitations of traditional machine learning methods and enhance predictive model performance and generalization.

Methods: The proposed model integrates a fully connected neural network for handling basic patient features and a convolutional neural network dedicated to capturing temporal patterns in patient data. The combination allows automatic learning of complex patterns and abstract features present in highly dynamic medical data associated with ALF.

Results: The model's effectiveness is demonstrated through comprehensive experiments and performance evaluations. It outperforms traditional machine learning methods, achieving 94.8% accuracy and superior generalization capabilities.

Conclusions: The study highlights the potential of deep learning in ALF prediction, emphasizing the importance of considering individualized medical factors. Future research should focus on improving model robustness, addressing imbalanced data, and further exploring personalized features for enhanced predictive accuracy in real-world clinical scenarios.

Keywords: Acute liver failure; convolutional neural network; deep learning; fully connected neural network.