Healthcare NLP v5.2.0 Release Notes

5.2.0

Highlights

We are delighted to announce remarkable enhancements and updates in our latest release of Spark NLP for Healthcare. This release comes with the first DocumentFiltererByClassifier annotator, RAG with SparkNLP tutorials and well as 5 new clinical pretrained models and pipelines. Here are the newies in this release:

• A tutorial to build a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) based clinical chatbot using LLMs with John Snow Labs in Databricks.
• Clinical document section classifier models to classify the sections within clinical documents.
• Introducing DocumentFiltererByClassifier to filter the documents or document sections using classifier outcomes.
• New Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) models that are categorizing text, identifying health risks, and recognizing mental health concerns in clinical documents.
• Robust exception handling to allow skipping the corrupted records processed via NERConverter, ChunkMapperModel, DocMapperModel, SentenceEntityResolverModel, RelationExtractonModel, RelationExtractonDLModel and AssertionDLModel annotators.
• Exploring generative AI applications: RAG-based medical chatbot notebooks in Spark NLP workshop repository.
• Introducing the enableSentenceIncrement parameter in InternalDocumentSplitter, offering precise sentence indexing control for streamlined text processing with annotators like sentenceDetector.
• Various core improvements; bug fixes, enhanced overall robustness and reliability of Spark NLP for Healthcare:
  • enableSentenceIncrement parameter in InternalDocumentSplitter, offering precise sentence indexing control for streamlined text processing with annotators like SentenceDetector.
  • Enabling targetEntities and entityWeights parameters in ChunkEntityEmbeddings.
  • Refactored ContextualParserApproach rules instances for proper integration into LightPipelines.
  • Fixed assertion pre-annotations issue in the NLP Lab module.
  • Deprecated messages deleted: Removed deprecation warning for confidenceValue metadata in ContextualParserApproach and “deprecation_notice” message in ChunkMapperModel.
• Updated notebooks and demonstrations for making Spark NLP for Healthcare easier to navigate and understand
• The additions and updates of numerous new clinical models and pipelines continue to reinforce our offering in the healthcare domain

These enhancements will elevate your experience with Spark NLP for Healthcare, enabling more efficient, accurate, and streamlined analysis of healthcare-related natural language data.

A tutorial to Build a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) Based Clinical Catbot Using LLMs with John Snow Labs in Databricks

In an era witnessing rapid advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) and chatbot technologies, this informative session emphasizes the benefits of employing LLM systems based on RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation). Particularly valuable in scenarios where precision in responses holds significance—such as addressing queries concerning medical patients or clinical protocols—RAG LLMs excel by providing accurate answers while minimizing imaginative outputs. They achieve this by explaining the source of each fact, mitigating errors, and utilizing private documents for information retrieval. Additionally, these systems facilitate near-real-time data updates without necessitating LLM reconfiguration.

This tutorial guides participants through the creation of a RAG Large Language Model (LLM) clinical chatbot system. Leveraging John Snow Labs’ specialized healthcare-oriented LLM and NLP models integrated into the Databricks platform, the system employs LLMs to query a knowledge base via a vector database populated by Healthcare NLP at scale within a Databricks notebook. Utilizing a user-friendly graphical interface, users can engage in productive conversations with the system, thereby enhancing the efficiency and efficacy of healthcare workflows.

Of paramount importance, the system is developed with a focus on data privacy, security, and compliance. It operates entirely within customers’ cloud infrastructure, ensuring zero data sharing and eliminating external API calls, thereby safeguarding sensitive healthcare information.

Webinar Slides

Medical Chatbot RAG JohnSnowLabs Databricks notebook link

Clinical Document Section Classifier Models to Classify the Sections within Clinical Documents

The latest development introduces two new Section Header Classifier models aimed at leveraging Bert models for the classification of text within clinical documents, focusing on specific sections within the document structure. These models facilitate the categorization of text into distinct sections according to a defined taxonomy, including sections such as Complications and Risk Factors, Consultation and Referral, Diagnostic and Laboratory Data, Discharge Information, Habits, History, Patient Information, Procedures, Impression, and Others.

The classifier model has a headless version too to cover the use cases in which there is no specific section header included in the section text. This allows classifying the sections even without a major clue (e.g. header, title, etc.) to indicate the section by itself.

These models offer enhanced capabilities to precisely classify clinical document text content into specific sections, aiding in structured information extraction and facilitating streamlined analysis within healthcare and clinical research domains.

Example:

sequenceClassifier = medical.BertForSequenceClassification\
    .pretrained("bert_sequence_classifier_clinical_sections", "en", "clinical/models")\
    .setInputCols(["document", "token"])\
    .setOutputCol("prediction")\
    .setCaseSensitive(False)

text = """
Medical Specialty: Cardiovascular / Pulmonary Sample Name: Aortic Valve Replacement

Description: Aortic valve replacement using a mechanical valve and two-vessel coronary artery bypass grafting procedure using saphenous vein graft to the first obtuse marginal artery and left radial artery graft to the left anterior descending artery. (Medical Transcription Sample Report)

DIAGNOSIS: Aortic valve stenosis with coronary artery disease associated with congestive heart failure. The patient has diabetes and is morbidly obese.

PROCEDURES: Aortic valve replacement using a mechanical valve and two-vessel coronary artery bypass grafting procedure using saphenous vein graft to the first obtuse marginal artery and left radial artery graft to the left anterior descending artery.
""""

Result:

Please check Section Header Splitter Demo and Section Header Splitting and Classification Notebook

Introducing DocumentFiltererByClassifier to Filter the Documents or Document Sections Using Classifier Outcomes

The DocumentFiltererByClassifier function is designed to filter documents based on the outcomes generated by classifier annotators. It operates using a white list and a black list. The white list comprises classifier results that meet the criteria to pass through the filter, while the black list includes results that are prohibited from passing through. This filtering process is sensitive to cases by default. However, by setting caseSensitive to False, the filter becomes case-insensitive, allowing for a broader range of matches based on the specified criteria. This function serves as an effective tool for systematically sorting and managing documents based on specific classifier outcomes, facilitating streamlined document handling and organization. Here is an example on how to use this module with DocumentSplitter to filter out a specific section/ split based on a classifier.

Example:

document_splitter = InternalDocumentSplitter() \
    .setInputCols("document")\
    .setOutputCol("splits")\
    .setSplitMode("recursive")\
    .setChunkSize(100)\
    .setChunkOverlap(3)\
    .setExplodeSplits(True)\
    .setSplitPatterns(["\n\n", "\n"])\

sequenceClassifier = MedicalBertForSequenceClassification\
    .pretrained('bert_sequence_classifier_clinical_sections', 'en', 'clinical/models')\
    .setInputCols(["splits", "token"])\
    .setOutputCol("prediction")\
    .setCaseSensitive(False)

document_filterer = DocumentFiltererByClassifier()\
    .setInputCols(["splits", "prediction"])\
    .setOutputCol("filteredDocuments")\
    .setWhiteList(["Diagnostic and Laboratory Data"])\
    .setCaseSensitive(False)

Results before filtering:

Results after filtering:

Please check: Section_Header_Splitting_and_Classification Notebook for more information

New Social Determinants Of Health (SDOH) Models That Are Categorizing Text, Identifying Health Risks And Recognizing Mental Health Concerns In Clinical Documents

These new SDoH models bring in advanced categorization capabilities to assess critical factors affecting individual health.

The models adeptly categorize text, assisting in identifying susceptibility to health risks related to frailty and recognizing mental health concerns within analyzed text data. Consequently, they contribute significantly to a more intricate understanding of how violence and abuse factors influence healthcare outcomes.

These innovative models signify a substantial leap forward in identifying and addressing key social determinants impacting overall health and well-being.

Example:

sequenceClassifier = MedicalBertForSequenceClassification\
    .pretrained("bert_sequence_classifier_sdoh_violence_abuse", "en", "clinical/models")\
    .setInputCols(["document", "token"])\
    .setOutputCol("prediction")

sample_texts = [
    ["Repeated visits for fractures, with vague explanations suggesting potential family-related trauma."],
    ["Patient presents with multiple bruises in various stages of healing, suggestive of repeated physical abuse."],
    ["There are no reported instances or documented episodes indicating the patient poses a risk of violence."] ,
    ["Patient B is a 40-year-old female who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has received a treatment plan that includes surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy."]
]

Result:

Please check SOCIAL DETERMINANT CLASSIFICATION Demo

Robust Exception Handling To Allow Skipping The Corrupted Records Processed Via NERConverter, ChunkMapperModel, DocMapperModel, SentenceEntityResolverModel, RelationExtractonModel, RelationExtractonDLModel and AssertionDLModel Annotators

We added doExceptionHandling parameter into NERConverterInternal, ChunkMapperModel, DocMapperModel, SentenceEntityResolverModel, RelationExtractonModel, RelationExtractonDLModel and AssertionDLModel annotators for a robust exception handling if the process is broken down due to corrupted inputs. If it is set as True, the annotator tries to process as usual and ff exception-causing data (e.g. corrupted record/ document) is passed to the annotator, an exception warning is emitted which has the exception message. Processing continues with the next one while the rest of the drecords within the same batch is parsed without interruption. The default behavious is False and will throw exception and break the process to inform users.

Example:

clinical_ner = MedicalNerModel.pretrained("ner_oncology", "en", "clinical/models") \
    .setInputCols(["sentence", "token", "embeddings"]) \
    .setOutputCol("ner")\
    .setDoExceptionHandling(True)

Exploring Generative AI Applications: RAG-Based Medical Chatbot Notebooks in Spark NLP Workshop Repository

Within the workshop repository of Spark NLP, a new dedicated folder for generative AI notebook examples has been introduced at generative-ai. This repository section hosts two notable notebooks:

• Medical Chatbot RAG JohnSnowLabs LangChain Notebook: This notebook delves into the application of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) in developing a medical chatbot. Leveraging John Snow Labs’ LangChain, this notebook explores the implementation and functionalities of RAG technology in healthcare contexts.

• Medical Chatbot RAG JohnSnowLabs Haystack Notebook: Another notebook dedicated to RAG-based medical chatbot development within the John Snow Labs ecosystem, this time utilizing Haystack. The notebook likely offers unique insights and approaches to creating medical chatbots using RAG within the John Snow Labs’ framework.

These notebooks provide valuable resources for individuals interested in understanding and implementing RAG-based generative AI specifically tailored for medical chatbot applications.

Introducing The enableSentenceIncrement Parameter In InternalDocumentSplitter, Offering Precise Sentence Indexing Control For Streamlined Text Processing With Annotators Like SentenceDetector

The enableSentenceIncrement parameter holds significance as it directly influences the management of sentence indexing within the document splitting process. By regulating this feature, users gain more precise control over sentence index increments in metadata. This functionality is particularly valuable when employing split documents in subsequent annotators, such as the SentenceDetector, ensuring accurate and streamlined processing of text data.

Example:

document_splitter = InternalDocumentSplitter() \
    .setInputCols(["document", "sentence"]) \
    .setOutputCol("splits") \
    .setSplitMode("sentence") \
    .setMaxLength(2)\
    .setExplodeSplits(True)\
    .setEnableSentenceIncrement(True)

sample_text = """Sample Name: Aortic Valve Replacement
Description: Aortic valve replacement using a mechanical valve and two-vessel coronary artery bypass grafting procedure using saphenous vein graft to the first obtuse marginal artery and left radial artery graft to the left anterior descending artery.
(Medical Transcription Sample Report)
DIAGNOSIS: Aortic valve stenosis with coronary artery disease associated with congestive heart failure. The patient has diabetes and is morbidly obese.
PROCEDURES: Aortic valve replacement using a mechanical valve and two-vessel coronary artery bypass grafting procedure using saphenous vein graft to the first obtuse marginal artery and left radial artery graft to the left anterior descending artery.
"""

Result:

Please check: Internal Document Splitter Notebook for more information

Various Core Improvements: Bug Fixes, Enhanced Overall Robustness, And Reliability Of Spark NLP For Healthcare

• Enabling targetEntities and entityWeights parameters in ChunkEntityEmbeddings
• Refactored ContextualParserApproach rules instances for proper integration into LightPipelines
• Fixed assertion pre-annotations issue in the ALAB module
• Deprecated Messages Deletion: Removed deprecation warning for confidenceValue metadata in ContextualParserApproach and “deprecation_notice” message in ChunkMapperModel

Updated Notebooks And Demonstrations For making Spark NLP For Healthcare Easier To Navigate And Understand

• New Medical Chatbot RAG JohnSnowLabs LangChain Notebook
• New Medical Chatbot RAG JohnSnowLabs Haystack Notebook
• New Section Header Splitting and Classification Notebook
• Updated Clinical Entity Resolvers Notebook with new examples
• New Section Header Splitter Demo
• Updated Social Determinant Classification Demo

We Have Added And Updated A Substantial Number Of New Clinical Models And Pipelines, Further Solidifying Our Offering In The Healthcare Domain.

• bert_sequence_classifier_sdoh_violence_abuse
• bert_sequence_classifier_sdoh_mental_health
• bert_sequence_classifier_sdoh_frailty_vulnerability
• bert_sequence_classifier_clinical_sections
• bert_sequence_classifier_clinical_sections_headless

For all Spark NLP for Healthcare models, please check: Models Hub Page

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