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Wiltgen T, McGinnis J, Schlaeger S, Kofler F, Voon C, Berthele A, Bischl D, Grundl L, Will N, Metz M, Schinz D, Sepp D, Prucker P, Schmitz-Koep B, Zimmer C, Menze B, Rueckert D, Hemmer B, Kirschke J, Mühlau M, Wiestler B. LST-AI: A deep learning ensemble for accurate MS lesion segmentation. Neuroimage Clin 2024; 42:103611. [PMID: 38703470 PMCID: PMC11088188 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2024] [Revised: 04/19/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/06/2024]
Abstract
Automated segmentation of brain white matter lesions is crucial for both clinical assessment and scientific research in multiple sclerosis (MS). Over a decade ago, we introduced an engineered lesion segmentation tool, LST. While recent lesion segmentation approaches have leveraged artificial intelligence (AI), they often remain proprietary and difficult to adopt. As an open-source tool, we present LST-AI, an advanced deep learning-based extension of LST that consists of an ensemble of three 3D U-Nets. LST-AI explicitly addresses the imbalance between white matter (WM) lesions and non-lesioned WM. It employs a composite loss function incorporating binary cross-entropy and Tversky loss to improve segmentation of the highly heterogeneous MS lesions. We train the network ensemble on 491 MS pairs of T1-weighted and FLAIR images, collected in-house from a 3T MRI scanner, and expert neuroradiologists manually segmented the utilized lesion maps for training. LST-AI also includes a lesion location annotation tool, labeling lesions as periventricular, infratentorial, and juxtacortical according to the 2017 McDonald criteria, and, additionally, as subcortical. We conduct evaluations on 103 test cases consisting of publicly available data using the Anima segmentation validation tools and compare LST-AI with several publicly available lesion segmentation models. Our empirical analysis shows that LST-AI achieves superior performance compared to existing methods. Its Dice and F1 scores exceeded 0.62, outperforming LST, SAMSEG (Sequence Adaptive Multimodal SEGmentation), and the popular nnUNet framework, which all scored below 0.56. Notably, LST-AI demonstrated exceptional performance on the MSSEG-1 challenge dataset, an international WM lesion segmentation challenge, with a Dice score of 0.65 and an F1 score of 0.63-surpassing all other competing models at the time of the challenge. With increasing lesion volume, the lesion detection rate rapidly increased with a detection rate of >75% for lesions with a volume between 10 mm3 and 100 mm3. Given its higher segmentation performance, we recommend that research groups currently using LST transition to LST-AI. To facilitate broad adoption, we are releasing LST-AI as an open-source model, available as a command-line tool, dockerized container, or Python script, enabling diverse applications across multiple platforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tun Wiltgen
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Julian McGinnis
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Department of Computer Science, Institute for AI in Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Sarah Schlaeger
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Florian Kofler
- Department of Computer Science, Institute for AI in Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; TranslaTUM, Central Institute for Translational Cancer Research of the Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Helmholtz AI, Helmholtz Munich, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - CuiCi Voon
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Achim Berthele
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Daria Bischl
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Lioba Grundl
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Nikolaus Will
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Marie Metz
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - David Schinz
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Institute of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Dominik Sepp
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Philipp Prucker
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Benita Schmitz-Koep
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Claus Zimmer
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Bjoern Menze
- Department of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Rueckert
- Department of Computer Science, Institute for AI in Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Department of Computing, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Bernhard Hemmer
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany
| | - Jan Kirschke
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Mark Mühlau
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
| | - Benedikt Wiestler
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; TranslaTUM, Central Institute for Translational Cancer Research of the Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; AI for Image-Guided Diagnosis and Therapy, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
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Wiltgen T, McGinnis J, Schlaeger S, Kofler F, Voon C, Berthele A, Bischl D, Grundl L, Will N, Metz M, Schinz D, Sepp D, Prucker P, Schmitz-Koep B, Zimmer C, Menze B, Rueckert D, Hemmer B, Kirschke J, Mühlau M, Wiestler B. LST-AI: a Deep Learning Ensemble for Accurate MS Lesion Segmentation. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2023.11.23.23298966. [PMID: 38045345 PMCID: PMC10690346 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.23.23298966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2023]
Abstract
Automated segmentation of brain white matter lesions is crucial for both clinical assessment and scientific research in multiple sclerosis (MS). Over a decade ago, we introduced an engineered lesion segmentation tool, LST. While recent lesion segmentation approaches have leveraged artificial intelligence (AI), they often remain proprietary and difficult to adopt. As an open-source tool, we present LST-AI, an advanced deep learning-based extension of LST that consists of an ensemble of three 3D-UNets. LST-AI explicitly addresses the imbalance between white matter (WM) lesions and non-lesioned WM. It employs a composite loss function incorporating binary cross-entropy and Tversky loss to improve segmentation of the highly heterogeneous MS lesions. We train the network ensemble on 491 MS pairs of T1w and FLAIR images, collected in-house from a 3T MRI scanner, and expert neuroradiologists manually segmented the utilized lesion maps for training. LST-AI additionally includes a lesion location annotation tool, labeling lesion location according to the 2017 McDonald criteria (periventricular, infratentorial, juxtacortical, subcortical). We conduct evaluations on 103 test cases consisting of publicly available data using the Anima segmentation validation tools and compare LST-AI with several publicly available lesion segmentation models. Our empirical analysis shows that LST-AI achieves superior performance compared to existing methods. Its Dice and F1 scores exceeded 0.62, outperforming LST, SAMSEG (Sequence Adaptive Multimodal SEGmentation), and the popular nnUNet framework, which all scored below 0.56. Notably, LST-AI demonstrated exceptional performance on the MSSEG-1 challenge dataset, an international WM lesion segmentation challenge, with a Dice score of 0.65 and an F1 score of 0.63-surpassing all other competing models at the time of the challenge. With increasing lesion volume, the lesion detection rate rapidly increased with a detection rate of >75% for lesions with a volume between 10mm3 and 100mm3. Given its higher segmentation performance, we recommend that research groups currently using LST transition to LST-AI. To facilitate broad adoption, we are releasing LST-AI as an open-source model, available as a command-line tool, dockerized container, or Python script, enabling diverse applications across multiple platforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tun Wiltgen
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Julian McGinnis
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Department of Computer Science, Institute for AI in Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Sarah Schlaeger
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Florian Kofler
- Department of Computer Science, Institute for AI in Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TranslaTUM, Center for Translational Cancer Research, Munich, Germany
- Helmholtz AI, Helmholtz Munich, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - CuiCi Voon
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Achim Berthele
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Daria Bischl
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Lioba Grundl
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Nikolaus Will
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Marie Metz
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - David Schinz
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Institute of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Dominik Sepp
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Philipp Prucker
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Benita Schmitz-Koep
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Claus Zimmer
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Bjoern Menze
- Department of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Rueckert
- Department of Computer Science, Institute for AI in Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Department of Computing, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Bernhard Hemmer
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany
| | - Jan Kirschke
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Mark Mühlau
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Benedikt Wiestler
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TranslaTUM, Center for Translational Cancer Research, Munich, Germany
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Federau C, Hainc N, Edjlali M, Zhu G, Mastilovic M, Nierobisch N, Uhlemann JP, Paganucci S, Granziera C, Heinzlef O, Kipp LB, Wintermark M. Evaluation of the quality and the productivity of neuroradiological reading of multiple sclerosis follow-up MRI scans using an intelligent automation software. Neuroradiology 2024; 66:361-369. [PMID: 38265684 PMCID: PMC10859335 DOI: 10.1007/s00234-024-03293-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE The assessment of multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions on follow-up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is tedious, time-consuming, and error-prone. Automation of low-level tasks could enhance the radiologist in this work. We evaluate the intelligent automation software Jazz in a blinded three centers study, for the assessment of new, slowly expanding, and contrast-enhancing MS lesions. METHODS In three separate centers, 117 MS follow-up MRIs were blindly analyzed on fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), pre- and post-gadolinium T1-weighted images using Jazz by 2 neuroradiologists in each center. The reading time was recorded. The ground truth was defined in a second reading by side-by-side comparison of both reports from Jazz and the standard clinical report. The number of described new, slowly expanding, and contrast-enhancing lesions described with Jazz was compared to the lesions described in the standard clinical report. RESULTS A total of 96 new lesions from 41 patients and 162 slowly expanding lesions (SELs) from 61 patients were described in the ground truth reading. A significantly larger number of new lesions were described using Jazz compared to the standard clinical report (63 versus 24). No SELs were reported in the standard clinical report, while 95 SELs were reported on average using Jazz. A total of 4 new contrast-enhancing lesions were found in all reports. The reading with Jazz was very time efficient, taking on average 2min33s ± 1min0s per case. Overall inter-reader agreement for new lesions between the readers using Jazz was moderate for new lesions (Cohen kappa = 0.5) and slight for SELs (0.08). CONCLUSION The quality and the productivity of neuroradiological reading of MS follow-up MRI scans can be significantly improved using the dedicated software Jazz.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Federau
- AI Medical AG, Goldhaldenstr 22a, 8702, Zollikon, Switzerland.
- University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Nicolin Hainc
- University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Neuroradiology, Clinical Neuroscience Center, University Hospital Zürich, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Myriam Edjlali
- Department of Radiology, APHP, Hôpitaux Raymond-Poincaré & Ambroise Paré, Paris, France
- Laboratoire d'imagerie Biomédicale Multimodale (BioMaps), Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Inserm, Service Hopsitalier Frédéric Joliot, Orsay, France
| | | | - Milica Mastilovic
- Department of Radiology, APHP, Hôpitaux Raymond-Poincaré & Ambroise Paré, Paris, France
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
| | - Nathalie Nierobisch
- University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Neuroradiology, Clinical Neuroscience Center, University Hospital Zürich, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Jan-Philipp Uhlemann
- University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Neuroradiology, Clinical Neuroscience Center, University Hospital Zürich, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Olivier Heinzlef
- Department of Neurology, Poissy-Saint-Germain-en-Laye Hospital, Poissy, France
- CRC SEP IDF Ouest, Poissy-Garches, France
| | - Lucas B Kipp
- Department of Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Max Wintermark
- Stanford University, Stanford, USA
- MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, USA
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Spagnolo F, Depeursinge A, Schädelin S, Akbulut A, Müller H, Barakovic M, Melie-Garcia L, Bach Cuadra M, Granziera C. How far MS lesion detection and segmentation are integrated into the clinical workflow? A systematic review. Neuroimage Clin 2023; 39:103491. [PMID: 37659189 PMCID: PMC10480555 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/04/2023] [Indexed: 09/04/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Over the past few years, the deep learning community has developed and validated a plethora of tools for lesion detection and segmentation in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, there is an important gap between validating models technically and clinically. To this end, a six-step framework necessary for the development, validation, and integration of quantitative tools in the clinic was recently proposed under the name of the Quantitative Neuroradiology Initiative (QNI). AIMS Investigate to what extent automatic tools in MS fulfill the QNI framework necessary to integrate automated detection and segmentation into the clinical neuroradiology workflow. METHODS Adopting the systematic Cochrane literature review methodology, we screened and summarised published scientific articles that perform automatic MS lesions detection and segmentation. We categorised the retrieved studies based on their degree of fulfillment of QNI's six-steps, which include a tool's technical assessment, clinical validation, and integration. RESULTS We found 156 studies; 146/156 (94%) fullfilled the first QNI step, 155/156 (99%) the second, 8/156 (5%) the third, 3/156 (2%) the fourth, 5/156 (3%) the fifth and only one the sixth. CONCLUSIONS To date, little has been done to evaluate the clinical performance and the integration in the clinical workflow of available methods for MS lesion detection/segmentation. In addition, the socio-economic effects and the impact on patients' management of such tools remain almost unexplored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Spagnolo
- Translational Imaging in Neurology (ThINK) Basel, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Research Center for Clinical Neuroimmunology and Neuroscience Basel (RC2NB), University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; MedGIFT, Institute of Informatics, School of Management, HES-SO Valais-Wallis University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Sierre, Switzerland
| | - Adrien Depeursinge
- MedGIFT, Institute of Informatics, School of Management, HES-SO Valais-Wallis University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Sierre, Switzerland; Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Department, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sabine Schädelin
- Translational Imaging in Neurology (ThINK) Basel, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Clinical Trial Unit, Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Aysenur Akbulut
- Translational Imaging in Neurology (ThINK) Basel, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Henning Müller
- MedGIFT, Institute of Informatics, School of Management, HES-SO Valais-Wallis University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Sierre, Switzerland; The Sense Research and Innovation Center, Lausanne and Sion, Switzerland
| | - Muhamed Barakovic
- Translational Imaging in Neurology (ThINK) Basel, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Research Center for Clinical Neuroimmunology and Neuroscience Basel (RC2NB), University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Lester Melie-Garcia
- Translational Imaging in Neurology (ThINK) Basel, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Research Center for Clinical Neuroimmunology and Neuroscience Basel (RC2NB), University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Meritxell Bach Cuadra
- CIBM Center for Biomedical Imaging, Lausanne, Switzerland; Radiology Department, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Cristina Granziera
- Translational Imaging in Neurology (ThINK) Basel, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Research Center for Clinical Neuroimmunology and Neuroscience Basel (RC2NB), University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
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