An efficient machine learning framework to identify important clinical features associated with pulmonary embolism

A misdiagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) can have severe consequences such as disability or death. It’s crucial to accurately identify key clinical features of PE in clinical practice to promptly identify potential PE patients who may present asymptomatically, and to prevent misdiagnosing PE as asthma exacerbation in patients with symptoms like dyspnea or chest pain. However, reliably identifying these important features can be challenging due to many factors influencing the likelihood of PE development in complex fashions (e.g., the interactions among these factors). To address this difficulty, we presented an effective framework using the deep neural network (DNN) model and the permutation-based feature importance test (PermFIT) procedure, i.e., PermFIT-DNN. We applied the PermFIT-DNN framework to the analysis of data from a PE study for asthma exacerbation patients. Our analysis results show that the PermFIT-DNN framework can robustly identify key features for classifying PE status. The important features identified can also aid in accurately predicting the PE risk.