The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has developed an AI medical imaging tool that is able to show a patient’s bone structure in three dimensions with the help of just a few X-ray images.

The technology helps doctor in surgical planning and spares patients the need to undergo CT scans, reducing their radiation exposure by up to 99 percent.

Li Xiaomeng, assistant professor in the department of electronic and computer engineering, said the AI model is able to reconstruct the 3D structure from two X-ray snapshots of patients’ bones and the process can be done within 30 seconds.

Errors made by the AI model are less than one millimetre and AI-generated structures are highly similar to CT scan results, she said.

“We also invited the clinicians to compare the differences and most of them could not find visual differences," Li said.

"So it shows that the AI model can achieve very highly competitive performances compared with traditional CT scans.”

The technology will be used at a public hospital in a clinical trial in coming months.

Orthopaedic specialist Tse Lung-fung said the new technology could reduce the radiation suffered by both patients and medics.

It is also expected to shorten waiting times for CT scans at hospitals and lower the examination costs for patients, he said.