Nodule-Aligned Latent Space Learning with LLM-Driven Multimodal Diffusion for Lung Nodule Progression Prediction

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Song, James, Wang, Yifan, Zhou, Chuan, Shen, Liyue
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Song, James
Wang, Yifan
Zhou, Chuan
Shen, Liyue
author_facet Song, James
Wang, Yifan
Zhou, Chuan
Shen, Liyue
contents Early diagnosis of lung cancer is challenging due to biological uncertainty and the limited understanding of the biological mechanisms driving nodule progression. To address this, we propose Nodule-Aligned Multimodal (Latent) Diffusion (NAMD), a novel framework that predicts lung nodule progression by generating 1-year follow-up nodule computed tomography images with baseline scans and the patient's and nodule's Electronic Health Record (EHR). NAMD introduces a nodule-aligned latent space, where distances between latents directly correspond to changes in nodule attributes, and utilizes an LLM-driven control mechanism to condition the diffusion backbone on patient data. On the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) dataset, our method synthesizes follow-up nodule images that achieve an AUROC of 0.805 and an AUPRC of 0.346 for lung nodule malignancy prediction, significantly outperforming both baseline scans and state-of-the-art synthesis methods, while closely approaching the performance of real follow-up scans (AUROC: 0.819, AUPRC: 0.393). These results demonstrate that NAMD captures clinically relevant features of lung nodule progression, facilitating earlier and more accurate diagnosis.
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publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Nodule-Aligned Latent Space Learning with LLM-Driven Multimodal Diffusion for Lung Nodule Progression Prediction
Song, James
Wang, Yifan
Zhou, Chuan
Shen, Liyue
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Early diagnosis of lung cancer is challenging due to biological uncertainty and the limited understanding of the biological mechanisms driving nodule progression. To address this, we propose Nodule-Aligned Multimodal (Latent) Diffusion (NAMD), a novel framework that predicts lung nodule progression by generating 1-year follow-up nodule computed tomography images with baseline scans and the patient's and nodule's Electronic Health Record (EHR). NAMD introduces a nodule-aligned latent space, where distances between latents directly correspond to changes in nodule attributes, and utilizes an LLM-driven control mechanism to condition the diffusion backbone on patient data. On the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) dataset, our method synthesizes follow-up nodule images that achieve an AUROC of 0.805 and an AUPRC of 0.346 for lung nodule malignancy prediction, significantly outperforming both baseline scans and state-of-the-art synthesis methods, while closely approaching the performance of real follow-up scans (AUROC: 0.819, AUPRC: 0.393). These results demonstrate that NAMD captures clinically relevant features of lung nodule progression, facilitating earlier and more accurate diagnosis.
title Nodule-Aligned Latent Space Learning with LLM-Driven Multimodal Diffusion for Lung Nodule Progression Prediction
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15932