Evaluation of multislice inputs to convolutional neural networks for medical image segmentation.

Journal: Medical physics
Published Date:

Abstract

PURPOSE: When using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for segmentation of organs and lesions in medical images, the conventional approach is to work with inputs and outputs either as single slice [two-dimensional (2D)] or whole volumes [three-dimensional (3D)]. One common alternative, in this study denoted as pseudo-3D, is to use a stack of adjacent slices as input and produce a prediction for at least the central slice. This approach gives the network the possibility to capture 3D spatial information, with only a minor additional computational cost.

Authors

  • Minh H Vu
    Department of Radiation Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
  • Guus Grimbergen
    Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5612 AZ, the Netherlands.
  • Tufve Nyholm
    Department of Radiation Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
  • Tommy Löfstedt
    Department of Radiation Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.