Abstract
Deep learning has the potential to augment clinician performance in medical imaging interpretation and reduce time to diagnosis through automated segmentation. Few studies to date have explored this topic. To develop and apply a neural network segmentation model (the HeadXNet model) capable of generating precise voxel-by-voxel predictions of intracranial aneurysms on head computed tomographic angiography (CTA) imaging to augment clinicians' intracranial aneurysm diagnostic performance. In this diagnostic study, a 3-dimensional convolutional neural network architecture was developed using a training set of 611 head CTA examinations to generate aneurysm segmentations. Segmentation outputs from this support model on a test set of 115 examinations were provided to clinicians. Between August 13, 2018, and October 4, 2018, 8 clinicians diagnosed the presence of aneurysm on the test set, both with and without model augmentation, in a crossover design using randomized order and a 14-day washout period. Head and neck examinations performed between January 3, 2003, and May 31, 2017, at a single academic medical center were used to train, validate, and test the model. Examinations positive for aneurysm had at least 1 clinically significant, nonruptured intracranial aneurysm. Examinations with hemorrhage, ruptured aneurysm, posttraumatic or infectious pseudoaneurysm, arteriovenous malformation, surgical clips, coils, catheters, or other surgical hardware were excluded. All other CTA examinations were considered controls. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, time, and interrater agreement were measured. Metrics for clinician performance with and without model augmentation were compared. The data set contained 818 examinations from 662 unique patients with 328 CTA examinations (40.1%) containing at least 1 intracranial aneurysm and 490 examinations (59.9%) without intracranial aneurysms. The 8 clinicians reading the test set ranged in experience from 2 to 12 years. Augmenting clinicians with artificial intelligence-produced segmentation predictions resulted in clinicians achieving statistically significant improvements in sensitivity, accuracy, and interrater agreement when compared with no augmentation. The clinicians' mean sensitivity increased by 0.059 (95% CI, 0.028-0.091; adjusted P = .01), mean accuracy increased by 0.038 (95% CI, 0.014-0.062; adjusted P = .02), and mean interrater agreement (Fleiss κ) increased by 0.060, from 0.799 to 0.859 (adjusted P = .05). There was no statistically significant change in mean specificity (0.016; 95% CI, -0.010 to 0.041; adjusted P = .16) and time to diagnosis (5.71 seconds; 95% CI, 7.22-18.63 seconds; adjusted P = .19). The deep learning model developed successfully detected clinically significant intracranial aneurysms on CTA. This suggests that integration of an artificial intelligence-assisted diagnostic model may augment clinician performance with dependable and accurate predictions and thereby optimize patient care.
Highlights
Diagnosis of unruptured aneurysms is a critically important clinical task: intracranial aneurysms occur in 1% to 3% of the population and account for more than 80% of nontraumatic life-threatening subarachnoid hemorrhages.[1]
Meaning This study suggests that the performance of clinicians in the detection of intracranial aneurysms can be improved by augmentation using deep learning segmentation models
The deep learning model developed successfully detected clinically significant intracranial aneurysms on Computed tomographic angiography (CTA). This suggests that integration of an artificial intelligence–assisted diagnostic model may augment clinician performance with dependable and accurate predictions and thereby optimize patient care
Summary
Diagnosis of unruptured aneurysms is a critically important clinical task: intracranial aneurysms occur in 1% to 3% of the population and account for more than 80% of nontraumatic life-threatening subarachnoid hemorrhages.[1] Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) is the primary, minimally invasive imaging modality currently used for diagnosis, surveillance, and presurgical planning of intracranial aneurysms,[2,3] but interpretation is time consuming even for subspecialty-trained neuroradiologists. Deep learning has recently shown significant potential in accurately performing diagnostic tasks on medical imaging.[8] convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have demonstrated excellent performance on a range of visual tasks, including medical image analysis.[9] the ability of deep learning systems to augment clinician workflow remains relatively unexplored.[10] The development of an accurate deep learning model to help clinicians reliably identify clinically significant aneurysms in CTA has the potential to provide radiologists, neurosurgeons, and other clinicians an accessible and immediately applicable diagnostic support tool
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