Itay Cohen

Dr. Itay Cohen

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

2Years (2025-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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9 October 2025 in Diagnostics
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Jonathan ShapiroJonathan Shapiro
Jonathan Shapiro
MAMor Atlas
Mor Atlas
NFNaomi Fridman
Naomi Fridman
ICItay Cohen
Itay Cohen
Ziad KhamaysiZiad Khamaysi
Ziad Khamaysi
IMIdit Maharshak
Idit Maharshak
Background: Papilledema, an ophthalmic finding associated with increased intracranial pressure, is often induced by dermatological medications, including corticosteroids, isotretinoin, and tetracyclines. Early detection is crucial for preventing irreversible optic nerve damage, but access to ophthalmologic expertise is often limited in rural settings. Artificial intelligence (AI) may enable the automated and accurate detection of papilledema from fundus images, thereby supporting timely diagnosis and management. Objective: The primary objective of this study was to explore the diagnostic capability of ChatGPT-4o, a general large language model with multimodal input, in identifying papilledema from fundus photographs. For context, its performance was compared with a ResNet-based convolutional neural network (CNN) specifically fine-tuned for ophthalmic imaging, as well as with the assessments of two human ophthalmologists. The focus was on applications relevant to dermatological care in resource-limited environments. Methods: A dataset of 1094 fundus images (295 papilledema, 799 normal) was preprocessed and partitioned into a training set and a test set. The ResNet model was fine-tuned using discriminative learning rates and a one-cycle learning rate policy. GPT-4o and two human evaluators (a senior ophthalmologist and an ophthalmology resident) independently assessed the test images. Diagnostic metrics including sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), accuracy, and Cohen’s Kappa, were calculated for each evaluator. Results: GPT-4o, when applied to papilledema detection, achieved an overall accuracy of 85.9% with substantial agreement beyond chance (Cohen’s Kappa = 0.72), but lower specificity (78.9%) and positive predictive value (73.7%) compared to benchmark models. For context, the ResNet model, fine-tuned for ophthalmic imaging, reached near-perfect accuracy (99.5%, Kappa = 0.99), while two human ophthalmologists achieved accuracies of 96.0% (Kappa ≈ 0.92). Conclusions: This study explored the capability of GPT-4o, a large language model with multimodal input, for detecting papilledema from fundus photographs. GPT-4o achieved moderate diagnostic accuracy and substantial agreement with the ground truth, but it underperformed compared to both a domain-specific ResNet model and human ophthalmologists. These findings underscore the distinction between generalist large language models and specialized diagnostic AI: while GPT-4o is not optimized for ophthalmic imaging, its accessibility, adaptability, and rapid evolution highlight its potential as a future adjunct in clinical screening, particularly in underserved settings. These findings also underscore the need for validation on external datasets and real-world clinical environments before such tools can be broadly implemented.

5 November 2025 in Journal of Clinical Medicine
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Jonathan ShapiroJonathan Shapiro
Jonathan Shapiro
MAMor Atlas
Mor Atlas
SBSharon Baum
Sharon Baum
FPFelix Pavlotsky
Felix Pavlotsky
ABAviv Barzilai
Aviv Barzilai
ICItay Cohen
Itay Cohen
Background: Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, are increasingly applied in medicine for summarization, clinical decision support, and diagnostic assistance, including recent work in dermatology. Previous AI and NLP models in dermatology have mainly focused on lesion classification, diagnostic support, and patient education, while extracting structured treatment information from unstructured dermatology records remains underexplored. We evaluated ChatGPT-4o’s ability to identify psoriasis treatments from free-text documentation, compared with expert annotations. Methods: In total, 94 electronic medical records (EMRs) of patients diagnosed with psoriasis were analyzed. ChatGPT-4o extracted treatments used for psoriasis from each unstructured clinical note. Its output was compared to manually curated reference annotations by expert dermatologists. A total of 83 treatments, including topical agents, systemic medications, biologics, phototherapy, and procedural interventions, were evaluated. Performance metrics included recall, precision, F1-score, specificity, accuracy, Cohen’s Kappa, and Area Under the Curve (AUC). Analyses were conducted at the individual-treatment level and grouped into pharmacologic categories. Results: ChatGPT-4o demonstrated strong performance, with recall of 0.91, precision of 0.96, F1-score of 0.94, specificity of 0.99, and accuracy of 0.99. Agreement with expert annotations was high (Cohen’s Kappa = 0.93; AUC = 0.98). Group-level analysis confirmed these results, with the highest performance in biologics and methotrexate (F1 = 1.00) and lower recall in categories with vague documentation, such as systemic corticosteroids and antihistamines. Conclusions: Our study highlights the potential of LLMs to extract psoriasis treatment information from unstructured clinical documentation and structure it for research and decision support. The model performed best with well-defined, commonly used treatments.

26 November 2025 in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
SBShira Barzilay
Shira Barzilay
DEDaniella Ekstein
Daniella Ekstein
ICItay Cohen
Itay Cohen
NSNofar Stein
Nofar Stein
KSKeren Tal Von Strauss
Keren Tal Von Strauss
MFMira Levis Frenk
Mira Levis Frenk
Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents, highlighting the importance of early intervention in school settings. Universal mental health awareness programs, aimed at improving mental health literacy and help-seeking behaviors, are a key preventive approach. This study examined whether changes in thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness—two constructs from the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS)—mediate the effects of school-based mental health interventions on suicidal ideation (SI). A total of 436 adolescents from central Israel (154 boys, 279 girls; M = 14.6, SD = 1.1) were randomly assigned to either a mental health awareness intervention ( N = 256) or a minimal-intervention control group with attendance monitoring ( N = 180). Belongingness, burdensomeness, and SI were assessed at baseline, 1-month, and 1-year post-intervention. Regression analyses showed that lower belongingness (β = –0.25, p < .001) and higher burdensomeness (β = 0.21, p < .01) predicted higher SI at 1-month, while only belongingness remained significant at 1-year (β = –0.19, p < .01). The mental health awareness intervention increased school-specific belongingness (β = 0.22, p < .001), whereas attendance monitoring intervention increased general belongingness (β = 0.18, p < .01). Mediation analysis indicated that the effects of the intervention type on SI were not significantly mediated by general and school belongingness. These findings suggest that promoting broader social connectedness beyond school environments may support reductions in adolescent suicide risk over time.

2 April 2026 in JDDG: Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
OROfer Reiter
Ofer Reiter
Cristian Navarrete-DechentCristian Navarrete-Dechent
Cristian Navarrete-Dechent
MAMor Atlas
Mor Atlas
NNNir Nathansohn
Nir Nathansohn
YMYaron Ben Mordehai
Yaron Ben Mordehai
Jonathan ShapiroJonathan Shapiro
Jonathan Shapiro

25 January 2026 in Diagnostics
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Jonathan ShapiroJonathan Shapiro
Jonathan Shapiro
BGBinyamin Greenfield
Binyamin Greenfield
ICItay Cohen
Itay Cohen
RDRoni P. Dodiuk-Gad
Roni P. Dodiuk-Gad
YVYuliya Valdman-Grinshpoun
Yuliya Valdman-Grinshpoun
EAEmily Avitan-Hersh
Emily Avitan-Hersh
Background/Objectives: AI models such as ChatGPT-4 have shown strong performance in dermatology; however, the diagnostic value of AI-generated clinical image descriptions remains underexplored. This study assesses whether ChatGPT-4’s image descriptions can support accurate dermatologic diagnosis and evaluates their potential integration into the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. Materials & Methods: In this Exploratory cross-sectional study, we analyzed images and descriptions from teledermatology consultations conducted between December 2023 and February 2024. ChatGPT-4 generated clinical descriptions for each image, which two senior dermatologists then used to formulate differential diagnoses. Diagnoses based on ChatGPT-4’s output were compared to those derived from the original clinical notes written by teledermatologists. Concordance was categorized as Top1 (exact match), Top3 (correct within top three), Partial, or No match. Results: The study included 154 image descriptions from 67 male and 87 female patients, aged 0 to 93 years. ChatGPT-4 descriptions averaged 74.3 ± 33.1 words, compared to 7.9 ± 3.0 words for teledermatologists. At least one of the two dermatologists achieved a Top 3 concordance rate of 82.5% using ChatGPT-4’s descriptions and 85.3% with teledermatologist descriptions. Conclusions: Preliminary findings highlight the potential integration of ChatGPT-4-generated descriptions into EMRs to enhance documentation. Although AI descriptions were longer, they did not enhance diagnostic accuracy, and expert validation remained essential.

29 September 2025 in Preprints.org
Verified
Preprint
Open access
PDF file
Jonathan ShapiroJonathan Shapiro
Jonathan Shapiro
MAMor Atlas
Mor Atlas
SBSharon Baum
Sharon Baum
FPFelix Pavlotsky
Felix Pavlotsky
ABAviv Barzilai
Aviv Barzilai
ICItay Cohen
Itay Cohen
Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, are increasingly used in clinical settings, including documentation and decision support. However, their accuracy in extracting treatment data from unstructured dermatology records remains underexplored. We evaluated ChatGPT-4o’s ability to identify psoriasis treatments from free-text documentation, compared with expert annotations. Ninety-four electronic medical records (EMRs) of psoriasis patients were retrospectively analyzed. ChatGPT-4o extracted treatments from each note, and its output was compared to manually curated annotations by dermatologists. Eighty-three treatments, including topical agents, systemic medications, biologics, phototherapy, and procedures, were evaluated. Performance metrics included recall, precision, F1-score, specificity, accuracy, Cohen’s Kappa, and AUC. ChatGPT-4o demonstrated strong performance, with a recall of 0.91, a precision of 0.96, an F1-score of 0.94, a specificity of 0.99, and an accuracy of 0.99. Agreement with expert annotations was high (Cohen’s Kappa = 0.93; AUC = 0.98). Group-level analysis confirmed these results, with the highest performance in biologics and methotrexate (F1 = 1.00) and lower recall in categories with vague documentation, such as systemic steroids and antihistamines. Our study highlights the potential of LLMs to extract psoriasis treatment information from unstructured clinical documentation and structure it for research and decision support. The model performed best with well-defined, commonly used treatments.