Na Qin

Predicting Short-term and Long-term Efficacy of HIFU Treatment for Uterine Fibroids Based on Clinical Information and MRI: A Retrospective Study

This study aimed to address the challenge of predicting treatment outcomes for patients with uterine fibroids undergoing high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation. We developed medical-assisted diagnostic models to accurately predict the ablation rates and volume reduction rates, thus assessing both short-term and long-term treatment effects of fibroids. For the ablation rate prediction, our study included 348 fibroids, categorized into 181 fully ablated and 167 inadequately ablated fibroids. Using multimodal MRI sequences and clinical characteristics, coupled with data preprocessing steps such as feature extraction, testing, and screening, we constructed an ensemble model for predicting preoperative ablation rates. In the volume reduction rate study, we analyzed 253 fibroids, divided into 142 high-volume responders and 111 low-volume responders. Based on clinical characteristics and T2-weighted image (T2WI) sequences, along with lesion delineation, feature normalization, and other preprocessing steps, we developed an inter-slice information fusion model for predicting preoperative volume reduction rates. The ensemble model demonstrated an accuracy of 0.800 and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.830 on the test set, while the inter-slice information fusion model achieved an accuracy of 0.808 and an AUC of 0.891. Both models showed superior predictive performance compared to existing models. The ensemble and inter-slice information fusion models developed in this study exhibit robust predictive capabilities, offering valuable support for clinicians in selecting patients for HIFU treatment. These models hold potential for enhancing patient outcomes through tailored treatment planning.

DMGM: deformable-mechanism based cervical cancer staging via MRI multi-sequence *

Abstract Objective. This study aims to leverage a deep learning approach, specifically a deformable convolutional layer, for staging cervical cancer using multi-sequence MRI images. This is in response to the challenges doctors face in simultaneously identifying multiple sequences, a task that computer-aided diagnosis systems can potentially improve due to their vast information storage capabilities. Approach. To address the challenge of limited sample sizes, we introduce a sequence enhancement strategy to diversify samples and mitigate overfitting. We propose a novel deformable ConvLSTM module that integrates a deformable mechanism with ConvLSTM, enabling the model to adapt to data with varying structures. Furthermore, we introduce the deformable multi-sequence guidance model (DMGM) as an auxiliary diagnostic tool for cervical cancer staging. Main results. Through extensive testing, including comparative and ablation studies, we validate the effectiveness of the deformable ConvLSTM module and the DMGM. Our findings highlight the model’s ability to adapt to the deformation mechanism and address the challenges in cervical cancer tumor staging, thereby overcoming the overfitting issue and ensuring the synchronization of asynchronous scan sequences. The research also utilized the multi-modal data from BraTS 2019 as an external test dataset to validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology presented in this study. Significance. The DMGM represents the first deep learning model to analyze multiple MRI sequences for cervical cancer, demonstrating strong generalization capabilities and effective staging in small dataset scenarios. This has significant implications for both deep learning applications and medical diagnostics. The source code will be made available subsequently.