ExplainableVLM-Rad: A Multi-Modal Scientific Reasoning System for Radiology
Abstract
ExplainableVLM-Rad is a multi-modal vision–language system designed for automated radiology report generation with an emphasis on interpretability, structured reasoning, and system-level extensibility. The framework integrates a transformer-based vision encoder with a domain-specific biomedical language model to generate clinically coherent reports from radiological images.
Beyond conventional image-to-text generation, the system is designed as a modular scientific reasoning pipeline, enabling traceable alignment between visual evidence and generated outputs. The architecture reflects a broader objective of developing AI systems capable of supporting high-stakes scientific interpretation workflows.
System Perspective: From Model to Scientific Reasoning Pipeline
ExplainableVLM-Rad is designed not as a standalone model, but as a multi-stage AI system comprising the following layers:
1. Perception Layer
A transformer-based vision encoder (ViT) processes radiological images to extract structured visual representations.
2. Semantic Reasoning Layer
A biomedical language model (BioGPT) maps visual features to domain-specific clinical language, enabling context-aware generation.
3. Structured Output Layer
The system generates clinically organized reports (e.g., findings, impressions), improving interpretability and downstream usability.
4. Explainability and Confidence Layer
Attention-based and gradient-based attribution methods provide traceability between image regions and generated text, along with confidence estimation.
This layered architecture reflects a transition from isolated model outputs to interpretable AI systems capable of structured reasoning.
Extension Toward Scientific Instrumentation and Research Intelligence Systems
While developed in the context of radiology, the architecture is inherently generalizable to broader scientific instrumentation and experimental workflows.
The system can be extended by integrating a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) layer, enabling grounding in:
- Instrument manuals
- Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Domain-specific experimental knowledge bases
Such an extension enables the system to:
- Interpret experimental outputs
- Recommend analysis strategies
- Assist in parameter selection
- Identify anomalies in observed results
Further, the integration of rule-based validation modules enables a hybrid neuro-symbolic AI system, improving reliability, consistency, and safety in high-stakes environments.
This positions ExplainableVLM-Rad as a foundational architecture for AI-driven scientific decision support systems, aligned with emerging needs in research infrastructure intelligence.
Model Architecture
- Encoder: Vision Transformer (ViT-Base, Patch16-224, pretrained on ImageNet21k)
- Decoder: BioGPT (domain-specific biomedical language model)
- Framework: Hugging Face Transformers (VisionEncoderDecoderModel)
Core Components
- Patch Embedding with Positional Encoding
- Multi-Head Self-Attention
- Cross-Modal Attention Mechanism
- Clinical Knowledge Conditioning
- Token–Patch Relevance Mapping
- Attention and Gradient-Based Explainability
Training Details
- Dataset: MIMIC-CXR (cleaned subset)
- Optimizer: AdamW
- Scheduler: Linear Warmup
- Training Strategy: Mixed Precision (AMP)
- Batch Size: 4
- Compute: NVIDIA T4 GPU
- Training Regime: Prototype-scale training (500 steps)
Objective Function
The training objective is defined as a composite loss function:
- Cross-Entropy Loss → Report Generation
- Cross-Modal Alignment Loss → Visual-Text Coherence
- Explanation Consistency Loss → Interpretability
This formulation ensures both accurate generation and alignment between visual evidence and textual outputs.
System Design Extensions
To align with real-world scientific deployment, the system is designed for extensibility along the following dimensions:
-
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG):
Grounding outputs in domain-specific knowledge repositories
-
Prompt-Structured Outputs:
Enforcing deterministic, section-wise report generation
-
Hybrid Validation Layer:
Combining neural outputs with rule-based constraints
-
Hallucination Mitigation:
Confidence scoring, constrained decoding, and retrieval grounding
-
Edge Optimization:
Model quantization and lightweight inference for offline environments
These extensions support the transition from prototype models to reliable, deployable AI systems.
Usage
1from transformers import VisionEncoderDecoderModel, ViTImageProcessor, AutoTokenizer
2from PIL import Image
3import torch
4
5model = VisionEncoderDecoderModel.from_pretrained("Vikhram-S/mimic-vit-biogpt")
6processor = ViTImageProcessor.from_pretrained("Vikhram-S/mimic-vit-biogpt")
7tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained("Vikhram-S/mimic-vit-biogpt")
8
9image = Image.open("sample_xray.png").convert("RGB")
10pixel_values = processor(images=image, return_tensors="pt").pixel_values
11
12output_ids = model.generate(pixel_values, max_length=128)
13report = tokenizer.decode(output_ids[0], skip_special_tokens=True)
14
15print(report)
Explainability Features
- Attention Heatmaps
- Gradient-Based Saliency Maps
- Token–Region Relevance Mapping
- Confidence Score Estimation
These features enable traceable reasoning and improve trust in AI-assisted decision systems.
Intended Use
This system is intended for:
- Research in vision–language models
- AI system design for scientific and medical domains
- Educational demonstration of explainable AI systems
Limitations
- Trained on a limited subset of the MIMIC-CXR dataset, which may restrict generalization
- Focused on single-view radiographs, limiting multi-view clinical reasoning
- Not clinically validated and not intended for real-world medical deployment
- Developed under a prototype-scale training regime, with scope for further optimization
These limitations are explicitly acknowledged as part of a responsible AI systems approach, where understanding system boundaries is critical for high-stakes deployment.
Ethical Considerations
- Potential dataset bias may influence model outputs
- Not intended for clinical decision-making or diagnostic use
- Designed strictly for research, experimentation, and system development purposes
The system emphasizes interpretability, transparency, and controlled usage, aligning with best practices for deploying AI in sensitive scientific domains.
Author
Vikhram S
AI Systems | Vision-Language Models | Scientific AI Infrastructure
Citation
Vikhram S. (2026)
ExplainableVLM-Rad: A Multi-Modal Scientific Reasoning System for Radiology.
