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LungNoduleAgent: A Collaborative Multi-Agent System for Precision Diagnosis of Lung Nodules

  • Cheng Yang
  • , Hui Jin
  • , Xinlei Yu
  • , Zhipeng Wang
  • , Yaoqun Liu
  • , Fenglei Fan
  • , Dajiang Lei
  • , Gangyong Jia
  • , Changmiao Wang
  • , Ruiquan Ge*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary WorksRGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)peer-review

Abstract

Diagnosing lung cancer typically involves physicians identifying lung nodules in Computed tomography (CT) scans and generating diagnostic reports based on their morphological features and medical expertise. Although advancements have been made in using multimodal large language models for analyzing lung CT scans, challenges remain in accurately describing nodule morphology and incorporating medical expertise. These limitations affect the reliability and effectiveness of these models in clinical settings. Collaborative multi-agent systems offer a promising strategy for achieving a balance between generality and precision in medical applications, yet their potential in pathology has not been thoroughly explored. To bridge these gaps, we introduce LungNoduleAgent, an innovative collaborative multi-agent system specifically designed for analyzing lung CT scans. LungNoduleAgent streamlines the diagnostic process into sequential components, improving precision in describing nodules and grading malignancy through three primary modules. The first module, the Nodule Spotter, coordinates clinical detection models to accurately identify nodules. The second module, the Radiologist, integrates localized image description techniques to produce comprehensive CT reports. Finally, the Doctor Agent System performs malignancy reasoning by using images and CT reports, supported by a pathology knowledge base and a multi-agent system framework. Extensive testing on two private datasets and the public LIDC-IDRI dataset indicates that LungNoduleAgent surpasses mainstream vision-language models, agent systems, and advanced expert models such as GPT-4o, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, LLaMA-3.2 Vision, Qwen2.5-VL, Med-R1, MedGemma, MedAgent-Pro, MedAgents, MDAgent and LLaVA-Med. These results highlight the importance of region-level semantic alignment and multi-agent collaboration in diagnosing nodules. LungNoduleAgent stands out as a promising foundational tool for supporting clinical analyses of lung nodules. © 2026, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (www.aaai.org). All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 40th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
EditorsSven Koenig, Chad Jenkins, Matthew E. Taylor
PublisherAAAI Press
Pages29793-29801
ISBN (Print)978-1-57735-906-7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2026
Event40th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2026) - Singapore EXPO, Singapore, Singapore
Duration: 20 Jan 202627 Jan 2026
https://aaai.org/conference/aaai/aaai-26/

Publication series

NameProceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Number35
Volume40
ISSN (Print)2159-5399
ISSN (Electronic)2374-3468

Conference

Conference40th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2026)
Abbreviated titleAAAI-26
PlaceSingapore
CitySingapore
Period20/01/2627/01/26
Internet address

Bibliographical note

Full text of this publication does not contain sufficient affiliation information. With consent from the author(s) concerned, the Research Unit(s) information for this record is based on the existing academic department affiliation of the author(s).

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.62076084, 61702146, U20A20386, U22A2033) and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. LY21F020017, 2023C03090), Guangxi Science and Technology Program (No. FN2504240022), the Guangxi Key R&D Project (No. AB24010167), the Project (No. 20232ABC03A25), GuangDong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2025A1515011617, 2022A1515110570), Futian Healthcare Research Project (No.FTWS002), Central Funds Guiding the Local Science and Technology Development Project (No. 2025ZYDF106).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

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