Deep learning for cardiac image segmentation: A review

Deep learning has become the most widely used approach for cardiac image segmentation in recent years. In this paper, we provide a review of over 100 cardiac image segmentation papers using deep learning, which covers common imaging modalities including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and ultrasound (US) and major anatomical structures of interest (ventricles, atria and vessels). In addition, a summary of publicly available cardiac image datasets and code repositories are included to provide a base for encouraging reproducible research. Finally, we discuss the challenges and limitations with current deep learning-based approaches (scarcity of labels, model generalizability across different domains, interpretability) and suggest potential directions for future research

Recurrent Fully Convolutional Neural Networks for Multi-slice MRI Cardiac Segmentation

In cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, fully-automatic segmentation of the heart enables precise structural and functional measurements to be taken, e.g. from short-axis MR images of the left-ventricle. In this work we propose a recurrent fully-convolutional network (RFCN) that learns image representations from the full stack of 2D slices and has the ability to leverage inter-slice spatial dependences through internal memory units. RFCN combines anatomical detection and segmentation into a single architecture that is trained end-to-end thus significantly reducing computational time, simplifying the segmentation pipeline, and potentially enabling real-time applications. We report on an investigation of RFCN using two datasets, including the publicly available MICCAI 2009 Challenge dataset. Comparisons have been carried out between fully convolutional networks and deep restricted Boltzmann machines, including a recurrent version that leverages inter-slice spatial correlation. Our studies suggest that RFCN produces state-of-the-art results and can substantially improve the delineation of contours near the apex of the heart.Comment: MICCAI Workshop RAMBO 201

Multi-Planar Deep Segmentation Networks for Cardiac Substructures from MRI and CT

Non-invasive detection of cardiovascular disorders from radiology scans requires quantitative image analysis of the heart and its substructures. There are well-established measurements that radiologists use for diseases assessment such as ejection fraction, volume of four chambers, and myocardium mass. These measurements are derived as outcomes of precise segmentation of the heart and its substructures. The aim of this paper is to provide such measurements through an accurate image segmentation algorithm that automatically delineates seven substructures of the heart from MRI and/or CT scans. Our proposed method is based on multi-planar deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) with an adaptive fusion strategy where we automatically utilize complementary information from different planes of the 3D scans for improved delineations. For CT and MRI, we have separately designed three CNNs (the same architectural configuration) for three planes, and have trained the networks from scratch for voxel-wise labeling for the following cardiac structures: myocardium of left ventricle (Myo), left atrium (LA), left ventricle (LV), right atrium (RA), right ventricle (RV), ascending aorta (Ao), and main pulmonary artery (PA). We have evaluated the proposed method with 4-fold-cross validation on the multi-modality whole heart segmentation challenge (MM-WHS 2017) dataset. The precision and dice index of 0.93 and 0.90, and 0.87 and 0.85 were achieved for CT and MR images, respectively. While a CT volume was segmented about 50 seconds, an MRI scan was segmented around 17 seconds with the GPUs/CUDA implementation.Comment: The paper is accepted to STACOM 201

Deep Learning in Cardiology

The medical field is creating large amount of data that physicians are unable to decipher and use efficiently. Moreover, rule-based expert systems are inefficient in solving complicated medical tasks or for creating insights using big data. Deep learning has emerged as a more accurate and effective technology in a wide range of medical problems such as diagnosis, prediction and intervention. Deep learning is a representation learning method that consists of layers that transform the data non-linearly, thus, revealing hierarchical relationships and structures. In this review we survey deep learning application papers that use structured data, signal and imaging modalities from cardiology. We discuss the advantages and limitations of applying deep learning in cardiology that also apply in medicine in general, while proposing certain directions as the most viable for clinical use.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figures, 10 table

A Survey on Deep Learning in Medical Image Analysis

Deep learning algorithms, in particular convolutional networks, have rapidly become a methodology of choice for analyzing medical images. This paper reviews the major deep learning concepts pertinent to medical image analysis and summarizes over 300 contributions to the field, most of which appeared in the last year. We survey the use of deep learning for image classification, object detection, segmentation, registration, and other tasks and provide concise overviews of studies per application area. Open challenges and directions for future research are discussed.Comment: Revised survey includes expanded discussion section and reworked introductory section on common deep architectures. Added missed papers from before Feb 1st 201