On June 25, 2022, China’s first AI-assisted identification tool for generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP), initiated by the Rare Skin Diseases Committee under the China Alliance for Rare Diseases and developed under the leadership of Jin Hongzhong, Director of the Department of Dermatology, PUMCH, went live.

In June 2021, the Chinese Medical Association published “Survey on the Prevalence and Disease Burden of GPP in China: An Estimation Based on National Urban Medical Insurance Data from 2012-2016”, which shows that unlike the common plaque psoriasis, GPP is rare but more severe, with the proportion of patients being only 1 to 2 per 100,000 in China.

Professor Jin Hongzhong introduced that during an acute attack of GPP, the patient’s skin turns red and rapidly develops many sterile pustules all over the body, with fever, chills and painful skin lesions, which can cause severe and even life-threatening organ failure and infectious complications. After the onset, the disease lasts for weeks and often takes months to heal. Many patients have persistent symptoms even between acute attacks of the disease. Therefore, it is important to identify and diagnose acute attacks of GPP as early as possible. However, the diagnosis is very difficult due to the similar presentation between GPP and some other skin diseases.

The GPP AI-assisted identification tool is a WeChat mini program on mobile phones with one version for patients and one for doctors. Directly using 1,000 real photos of GPP patients’ skin lesions, and powered by AI image recognition technology, the tool can reach a recognition accuracy rate of more than 85%. Patients only need to follow the instructions of the mini program and upload clear photos of the affected skin area to get a preliminary GPP disease risk assessment. The tool also connects 30 hospitals with standardized GPP treatment capability in 14 cities across China to provide navigation services for high-risk patients that guide them to seek for professional standardized medical service providers as soon as possible. Doctors can also use the tool to make more accurate and rapid clinical diagnosis, improving diagnostic efficiency and quality.

Written by: Liu Meiyan and Xu Tingting of “Health Times”

Transltor: Liu Haiyan

Editor: Zhang Shu and Wang Yao