Artificial Contrast: Deep Learning for Reducing Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agents in Neuroradiology.

Journal: Investigative radiology
Published Date:

Abstract

Deep learning approaches are playing an ever-increasing role throughout diagnostic medicine, especially in neuroradiology, to solve a wide range of problems such as segmentation, synthesis of missing sequences, and image quality improvement. Of particular interest is their application in the reduction of gadolinium-based contrast agents, the administration of which has been under cautious reevaluation in recent years because of concerns about gadolinium deposition and its unclear long-term consequences. A growing number of studies are investigating the reduction (low-dose approach) or even complete substitution (zero-dose approach) of gadolinium-based contrast agents in diverse patient populations using a variety of deep learning methods. This work aims to highlight selected research and discusses the advantages and limitations of recent deep learning approaches, the challenges of assessing its output, and the progress toward clinical applicability distinguishing between the low-dose and zero-dose approach.

Authors

  • Robert Haase
  • Thomas Pinetz
    Institute of Applied Mathematics, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
  • Erich Kobler
    Institute of Computer Graphics and Vision, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria.
  • Daniel Paech
  • Alexander Effland
    Institute for Numerical Simulation, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. alexander.effland@ins.uni-bonn.de.
  • Alexander Radbruch
    Department of Neuroradiology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
  • Katerina Deike-Hofmann
    Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Bonn, Germany.