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arXiv · 2605.22833

RAG4Outcome: A Retrieval-Augmented Multimodal Framework for Prognostic Prediction in Chronic Osteomyelitis

Daqian Shi·Pei Han·Jishizhan Chen·Yang Wang·Xiaolei Diao·Xianyou Zheng·Pengfei Cheng
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Abstract

Chronic osteomyelitis presents substantial prognostic challenges due to its high recurrence risk and complex postoperative recovery trajectories. Traditional assessment often relies on manual scoring systems, which limit scalability, efficiency, and consistency in clinical practice. Furthermore, the heterogeneous nature of clinical data poses challenges for current multimodal learning approaches that require aligned inputs and large annotated datasets. In this work, we propose RAG4Outcome, a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) framework for prognostic prediction in chronic osteomyelitis. Our method integrates multimodal clinical data, including PET-CT imaging reports, structured surgical and diagnostic records, and unstructured follow-up notes, into a unified prediction pipeline. By combining a domain-specific retrieval corpus with expert-guided prompting, the framework enables more interpretable, evidence-grounded, and clinically reliable prognosis. Preliminary results on real-world cases demonstrate promising effectiveness and clinical alignment, highlighting the potential of RAG4Outcome for AI-assisted infection management and postoperative decision support.

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Daqian Shi, Pei Han, Jishizhan Chen, Yang Wang, Xiaolei Diao, Xianyou Zheng, Pengfei Cheng. 2026-04-24. RAG4Outcome: A Retrieval-Augmented Multimodal Framework for Prognostic Prediction in Chronic Osteomyelitis. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22833

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