Medical Imaging Research Articles

Colon cancer diagnosis by means of explainable deep learning

Early detection of the adenocarcinoma cancer in colon tissue by means of explainable deep learning, by classifying histological images and providing visual explainability on model prediction. Considering that in recent years, deep learning techniques have emerged as powerful techniques in medical image analysis, offering unprecedented accuracy and efficiency, in this paper we propose a method to automatically detect the presence of cancerous cells in colon tissue images. Various deep learning architectures are considered, with the aim of considering the best one in terms of quantitative and qualitative results. As a matter of fact, we consider qualitative results by taking into account the so-called prediction explainability, by providing a way to highlight on the tissue images the areas that from the model point of view are related to the presence of colon cancer. The experimental analysis, performed on 10,000 colon issue images, showed the effectiveness of the proposed method by obtaining an accuracy equal to 0.99. The experimental analysis shows that the proposed method can be successfully exploited for colon cancer detection and localisation from tissue images.

XRAInet: AI-based decision support for pneumothorax and pleural effusion management.

This study aimed to develop and assess the performance of an artificial intelligence(AI)-driven decision support system, XRAInet, in accurately identifying pediatric patients with pleural effusion or pneumothorax and determining whether tube thoracostomy intervention is warranted. In this diagnostic accuracy study, we retrospectively analyzed a data set containing 510 X-ray images from 170 pediatric patients admitted between 2005 and 2022. Patients were categorized into two groups: Tube (requiring tube thoracostomy) and Conservative (managed conservatively). XRAInet, a deep learning-based algorithm, was trained using this data set. We evaluated its performance using various metrics, including mean Average Precision (mAP), recall, precision, and F1 score. XRAInet, achieved a mAP score of 0.918. This result underscores its ability to accurately identify and localize regions necessitating tube thoracostomy for pediatric patients with pneumothorax and pleural effusion. In an independent testing data set, the model exhibited a sensitivity of 64.00% and specificity of 96.15%. In conclusion, XRAInet presents a promising solution for improving the detection and decision-making process for cases of pneumothorax and pleural effusion in pediatric patients using X-ray images. These findings contribute to the expanding field of AI-driven medical imaging, with potential applications for enhancing patient outcomes. Future research endeavors should explore hybrid models, enhance interpretability, address data quality issues, and align with regulatory requirements to ensure the safe and effective deployment of XRAInet in healthcare settings.

Deep Attention Fusion Hashing (DAFH) Model for Medical Image Retrieval

In medical image retrieval, accurately retrieving relevant images significantly impacts clinical decision making and diagnostics. Traditional image-retrieval systems primarily rely on single-dimensional image data, while current deep-hashing methods are capable of learning complex feature representations. However, retrieval accuracy and efficiency are hindered by diverse modalities and limited sample sizes. Objective: To address this, we propose a novel deep learning-based hashing model, the Deep Attention Fusion Hashing (DAFH) model, which integrates advanced attention mechanisms with medical imaging data. Methods: The DAFH model enhances retrieval performance by integrating multi-modality medical imaging data and employing attention mechanisms to optimize the feature extraction process. Utilizing multimodal medical image data from the Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), this study constructed and trained a deep hashing network that achieves high-precision classification of various cancer types. Results: At hash code lengths of 16, 32, and 48 bits, the model respectively attained Mean Average Precision (MAP@10) values of 0.711, 0.754, and 0.762, highlighting the potential and advantage of the DAFH model in medical image retrieval. Conclusions: The DAFH model demonstrates significant improvements in the efficiency and accuracy of medical image retrieval, proving to be a valuable tool in clinical settings.

Bias in artificial intelligence for medical imaging: fundamentals, detection, avoidance, mitigation, challenges, ethics, and prospects.

Although artificial intelligence (AI) methods hold promise for medical imaging-based prediction tasks, their integration into medical practice may present a double-edged sword due to bias (i.e., systematic errors). AI algorithms have the potential to mitigate cognitive biases in human interpretation, but extensive research has highlighted the tendency of AI systems to internalize biases within their model. This fact, whether intentional or not, may ultimately lead to unintentional consequences in the clinical setting, potentially compromising patient outcomes. This concern is particularly important in medical imaging, where AI has been more progressively and widely embraced than any other medical field. A comprehensive understanding of bias at each stage of the AI pipeline is therefore essential to contribute to developing AI solutions that are not only less biased but also widely applicable. This international collaborative review effort aims to increase awareness within the medical imaging community about the importance of proactively identifying and addressing AI bias to prevent its negative consequences from being realized later. The authors began with the fundamentals of bias by explaining its different definitions and delineating various potential sources. Strategies for detecting and identifying bias were then outlined, followed by a review of techniques for its avoidance and mitigation. Moreover, ethical dimensions, challenges encountered, and prospects were discussed.

Enhancing vascular network visualization in 3D photoacoustic imaging: in vivo experiments with a vasculature filter

Filter-based vessel enhancement algorithms facilitate the extraction of vascular networks from medical images. Traditional filter-based algorithms struggle with high noise levels in images with false vessel extraction, and a low standard deviation (σ) value may introduce gaps at the centers of wide vessels. In this paper, a robust technique with less sensitivity to parameter tuning and better noise suppression than other filter-based methods for two-dimensional and three-dimensional images is implemented. In this study, we propose a filter that employs non-local means (NLM) for denoising, applying the vesselness function to suppress blob-like structures and filling the gaps in wide vessels without compromising edge quality or details. Acoustic resolution photoacoustic microscopy (AR-PAM) systems generate high-resolution volumetric photoacoustic images, but their vascular structure imaging suffers from out-of-focal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and lateral resolution loss. Implementing a synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) based on a virtual detector (VD) improves out-of-focal region resolution and SNR. Combining the proposed filter with the SAFT algorithm enhances vascular structural imaging in AR-PAM systems. The proposed method is robust and applicable for animal tissues with less error of vasculature structure extraction in comparison to traditional fliter-based methods like Frangi and Sato filter. Also, the method is faster in terms of processing speed and less tuning parameters. We applied the method to a digital phantom to validate our approach and conducted in vivo experiments to demonstrate its superiority for real volumetric tissue imaging.

Opto-intelligence spectrometer using diffractive neural networks

Abstract Spectral reconstruction, critical for understanding sample composition, is extensively applied in fields like remote sensing, geology, and medical imaging. However, existing spectral reconstruction methods require bulky equipment or complex electronic reconstruction algorithms, which limit the system’s performance and applications. This paper presents a novel flexible all-optical opto-intelligence spectrometer, termed OIS, using a diffractive neural network for high-precision spectral reconstruction, featuring low energy consumption and light-speed processing. Simulation experiments indicate that the OIS is able to achieve high-precision spectral reconstruction under spatially coherent and incoherent light sources without relying on any complex electronic algorithms, and integration with a simplified electrical calibration module can further improve the performance of OIS. To demonstrate the robustness of OIS, spectral reconstruction was also successfully conducted on real-world datasets. Our work provides a valuable reference for using diffractive neural networks in spectral interaction and perception, contributing to ongoing developments in photonic computing and machine learning.

Automation of Wilms’ tumor segmentation by artificial intelligence

Background3D reconstruction of Wilms’ tumor provides several advantages but are not systematically performed because manual segmentation is extremely time-consuming. The objective of our study was to develop an artificial intelligence tool to automate the segmentation of tumors and kidneys in children.MethodsA manual segmentation was carried out by two experts on 14 CT scans. Then, the segmentation of Wilms’ tumor and neoplastic kidney was automatically performed using the CNN U-Net and the same CNN U-Net trained according to the OV2ASSION method. The time saving for the expert was estimated depending on the number of sections automatically segmented.ResultsWhen segmentations were performed manually by two experts, the inter-individual variability resulted in a Dice index of 0.95 for tumor and 0.87 for kidney. Fully automatic segmentation with the CNN U-Net yielded a poor Dice index of 0.69 for Wilms’ tumor and 0.27 for kidney. With the OV2ASSION method, the Dice index varied depending on the number of manually segmented sections. For the segmentation of the Wilms’ tumor and neoplastic kidney, it varied respectively from 0.97 to 0.94 for a gap of 1 (2 out of 3 sections performed manually) to 0.94 and 0.86 for a gap of 10 (1 section out of 6 performed manually).ConclusionFully automated segmentation remains a challenge in the field of medical image processing. Although it is possible to use already developed neural networks, such as U-Net, we found that the results obtained were not satisfactory for segmentation of neoplastic kidneys or Wilms’ tumors in children. We developed an innovative CNN U-Net training method that makes it possible to segment the kidney and its tumor with the same precision as an expert while reducing their intervention time by 80%.

Brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) segmentation using multimodal optimization

AbstractOne of the highly focused areas in the medical science community is segmenting tumors from brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The diagnosis of malignant tumors at an early stage is necessary to provide treatment for patients. The patient’s prognosis will improve if it is detected early. Medical experts use a manual method of segmentation when making a diagnosis of brain tumors. This study proposes a new approach to simplify and automate this process. In recent research, multi-level segmentation has been widely used in medical image analysis, and the effectiveness and precision of the segmentation method are directly tied to the number of segments used. However, choosing the appropriate number of segments is often left up to the user and is challenging for many segmentation algorithms. The proposed method is a modified version of the 3D Histogram-based segmentation method, which can automatically determine an appropriate number of segments. The general algorithm contains three main steps: The first step is to use a Gaussian filter to smooth the 3D RGB histogram of an image. This eliminates unreliable and non-dominating histogram peaks that are too close together. Next, a multimodal particle swarm optimization method identifies the histogram’s peaks. In the end, pixels are placed in the cluster that best fits their characteristics based on the non-Euclidean distance. The proposed algorithm has been applied to a Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) and brain MRI Images for brain Tumor detection dataset. The results of the proposed method are compared with those of three clustering methods: FCM, FCM_FWCW, and FCM_FW. In the comparative analysis of the three algorithms across various MRI slices. Our algorithm consistently demonstrates superior performance. It achieves the top mean rank in all three metrics, indicating its robustness and effectiveness in clustering. The proposed method is effective in experiments, proving its capacity to find the proper clusters.

Colon Cancer Disease Diagnosis Based on Convolutional Neural Network and Fishier Mantis Optimizer.

Colon cancer is a prevalent and potentially fatal disease that demands early and accurate diagnosis for effective treatment. Traditional diagnostic approaches for colon cancer often face limitations in accuracy and efficiency, leading to challenges in early detection and treatment. In response to these challenges, this paper introduces an innovative method that leverages artificial intelligence, specifically convolutional neural network (CNN) and Fishier Mantis Optimizer, for the automated detection of colon cancer. The utilization of deep learning techniques, specifically CNN, enables the extraction of intricate features from medical imaging data, providing a robust and efficient diagnostic model. Additionally, the Fishier Mantis Optimizer, a bio-inspired optimization algorithm inspired by the hunting behavior of the mantis shrimp, is employed to fine-tune the parameters of the CNN, enhancing its convergence speed and performance. This hybrid approach aims to address the limitations of traditional diagnostic methods by leveraging the strengths of both deep learning and nature-inspired optimization to enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of colon cancer diagnosis. The proposed method was evaluated on a comprehensive dataset comprising colon cancer images, and the results demonstrate its superiority over traditional diagnostic approaches. The CNN-Fishier Mantis Optimizer model exhibited high sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy in distinguishing between cancer and non-cancer colon tissues. The integration of bio-inspired optimization algorithms with deep learning techniques not only contributes to the advancement of computer-aided diagnostic tools for colon cancer but also holds promise for enhancing the early detection and diagnosis of this disease, thereby facilitating timely intervention and improved patient prognosis. Various CNN designs, such as GoogLeNet and ResNet-50, were employed to capture features associated with colon diseases. However, inaccuracies were introduced in both feature extraction and data classification due to the abundance of features. To address this issue, feature reduction techniques were implemented using Fishier Mantis Optimizer algorithms, outperforming alternative methods such as Genetic Algorithms and simulated annealing. Encouraging results were obtained in the evaluation of diverse metrics, including sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and F1-Score, which were found to be 94.87%, 96.19%, 97.65%, and 96.76%, respectively.

Res-MGCA-SE: a lightweight convolutional neural network based on vision transformer for medical image classification

Res-MGCA-SE: a lightweight convolutional neural network based on vision transformer for medical image classification

LMBiS-Net: A lightweight bidirectional skip connection based multipath CNN for retinal blood vessel segmentation

Blinding eye diseases are often related to changes in retinal structure, which can be detected by analysing retinal blood vessels in fundus images. However, existing techniques struggle to accurately segment these delicate vessels. Although deep learning has shown promise in medical image segmentation, its reliance on specific operations can limit its ability to capture crucial details such as the edges of the vessel. This paper introduces LMBiS-Net, a lightweight convolutional neural network designed for the segmentation of retinal vessels. LMBiS-Net achieves exceptional performance with a remarkably low number of learnable parameters (only 0.172 million). The network used multipath feature extraction blocks and incorporates bidirectional skip connections for the information flow between the encoder and decoder. In addition, we have optimised the efficiency of the model by carefully selecting the number of filters to avoid filter overlap. This optimisation significantly reduces training time and improves computational efficiency. To assess LMBiS-Net’s robustness and ability to generalise to unseen data, we conducted comprehensive evaluations on four publicly available datasets: DRIVE, STARE, CHASE_DB1, and HRF The proposed LMBiS-Net achieves significant performance metrics in various datasets. It obtains sensitivity values of 83.60%, 84.37%, 86.05%, and 83.48%, specificity values of 98.83%, 98.77%, 98.96%, and 98.77%, accuracy (acc) scores of 97.08%, 97.69%, 97.75%, and 96.90%, and AUC values of 98.80%, 98.82%, 98.71%, and 88.77% on the DRIVE, STARE, CHEASE_DB, and HRF datasets, respectively. In addition, it records F1 scores of 83.43%, 84.44%, 83.54%, and 78.73% on the same datasets. Our evaluations demonstrate that LMBiS-Net achieves high segmentation accuracy (acc) while exhibiting both robustness and generalisability across various retinal image datasets. This combination of qualities makes LMBiS-Net a promising tool for various clinical applications.

July 2024 Medical Image of the Month: Vocal Cord Paralysis on PET-CT

No abstract available. Article truncated after 150 words. A 60-year-old woman with a past medical history of hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, and a significant smoking history (40+ pack-years) presented with a 3-month history of hoarseness of voice as well as a 10 lb weight loss over a 5-month period. Chest CT revealed a spiculated left upper lobe nodule (Figure 1A). Additionally, there was evidence of bulky mediastinal and left hilar lymphadenopathy (Figure 1B). A subsequent 17-FDG PET-CT (Figure 2) demonstrated marked metabolic activity in the left upper lobe nodule with an SUV maximum of 9.1. Metabolically active mediastinal and left hilar lymphadenopathy was also noted with an SUV maximum of 5.9. Interestingly, increased metabolic activity of the right vocal cord compared to the left was noted on the PET scan (Figure 2B). Direct laryngoscopy, performed during intubation for a diagnostic bronchoscopy and endobronchial ultrasound, confirmed left vocal cord paralysis. EBUS sampling of multiple mediastinal hilar lymph node stations, including …

Research into super-resolution in medical imaging from 2000 to 2023: bibliometric analysis and visualization.

Super-resolution (SR) refers to the use of hardware or software methods to enhance the resolution of low-resolution (LR) images and produce high-resolution (HR) images. SR is applied frequently across a variety of medical imaging contexts, particularly in the enhancement of neuroimaging, with specific techniques including SR microscopy-used for diagnostic biomarkers-and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-a neuroimaging method for the measurement and mapping of brain activity. This bibliometric analysis of the literature related to SR in medical imaging was conducted to identify the global trends in this field, and visualization via graphs was completed to offer insights into future research prospects. In order to perform a bibliometric analysis of the SR literature, this study sourced all publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database published from January 1, 2000, to October 11, 2023. A total of 3,262 articles on SR in medical imaging were evaluated. VOSviewer was used to perform co-occurrence and co-authorship analysis, and network visualization of the literature data, including author, journal, publication year, institution, and keywords, was completed. From 2000 to 2023, the annual publication volume surged from 13 to 366. The top three journals in this field in terms of publication volume were as follows: (I) Scientific Reports (86 publications), (II) IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging (74 publications), and (III) IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control (56 publications). The most prolific country, institution, and author were the United States (1,017 publications; 31,301 citations), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (124 publications; 2,758 citations), and Dinggang Shen (20 publications; 671 citations), respectively. A cluster analysis of the top 100 keywords was conducted, which revealed the presence of five co-occurrence clusters: (I) SR and artificial intelligence (AI) for medical image enhancement, (II) SR and inverse problem processing concepts for positron emission tomography (PET) image processing, (III) SR ultrasound through microbubbles, (IV) SR microscopy for Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases, and (V) SR in brain fMRI: rapid acquisition and precise imaging. The most recent high-frequency keywords were deep learning (DL), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Over the past two decades, the output of publications by countries, institutions, and authors in the field of SR in medical imaging has steadily increased. Based on bibliometric analysis of international trends, the resurgence of SR in medical imaging has been facilitated by advancements in AI. The increasing need for multi-center and multi-modal medical images has further incentivized global collaboration, leading to the diverse research paths in SR medical imaging among prominent scientists.

Advancing medical imaging with GAN-based anomaly detection

Anomaly detection in medical imaging is a complex challenge, exacerbated by limited annotated data. Recent advancements in generative adversarial networks (GANs) offer potential solutions, yet their effectiveness in medical imaging remains largely uncharted. We conducted a targeted exploration of the benefits and constraints associated with GAN-based anomaly detection techniques. Our investigations encompassed experiments employing eight anomaly detection methods on three medical imaging datasets representing diverse modalities and organ/tissue types. These experiments yielded notably diverse results. The results exhibited significant variability, with metrics spanning a wide range (area under the curve (AUC): 0.475-0.991; sensitivity: 0.17-0.98; specificity: 0.14-0.97). Furthermore, we offer guidance for implementing anomaly detection models in medical imaging and anticipate pivotal avenues for future research. Results unveil varying performances, influenced by factors like dataset size, anomaly subtlety, and dispersion. Our findings provide insights into the complex landscape of anomaly detection in medical imaging, offering recommendations for future research and deployment.

A novel compression methodology for medical images using deep learning for high-speed transmission

Medical imaging is a rapidly growing field having a high impact on the early detection, diagnosis and surgical planning of diseases. Several imaging techniques such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US) imaging generate a higher volume of data, necessitating additional storage and communication requirements. Hence, image compression is utilized in medical field to reduce redundancy and alleviate memory and bandwidth issues. This paper presents a novel deep learning-based compression method to reduce the size of medical images. This method employs a deep convolutional neural network for learning compact representations of medical images, then coded by a Huffman encoder. The compression process is reversed to reconstruct the original image. Several tests are conducted to compare the results with other wellknown compression methods. The proposed model achieved a mean peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of 42.82 dB with storage space saving (SSS) of 96.15% for CT, 43.88 dB with SSS of 96.25% for MRI, 46.29 dB with SSS of 96.07% for US and 43.51 dB with SSS of 96.95% for X-ray images. The findings showed that the proposed compression technique could greatly compress the image size, saving storage space, facilitating better transmission and preserving critical diagnostic information.

Improved medical image inpainting using automatic multi-task learning driven deep learning approach

Distorted medical images can drastically reduce diagnosis accuracy using computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) systems. The objective of medical image classification is to improve diagnostic imaging precision and restore regions degraded by image inpainting. Deep Learning (DL) methods like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are being used to solve these medical image inpainting issues. Recently, various improved GAN models were proposed for improved image inpainting, but challenges like computational inefficiency, unreliable restoration quality, and lack of correct analysis of discriminator block. To overcome these problems, a novel GAN model is proposed with modified Generator and Discriminator blocks for improved medical image inpainting. To improve image inpainting quality with minimum computational complexity, the Multi-Task Learning (MTL)-based generator block is designed. The MTL encoder is connected with three decoders for three tasks edge detection, organ boundary generation, and image completion. The MTL-based encoder and decoders are modified with an optimum number of layers and regularization functions to improve the outcomes. The output of the generator block is input into the discriminator block, where we designed the relevant feedback strategy to decrease generator loss by automatically changing the weights on wrong classifications. The simulation results revealed the efficiency of the proposed medical image inpainting approach and discriminator block performances over the state-of-the-art. Due to the modified MTL-based generator and discriminator block in the proposed approach, the PSNR is improved by 14.31 %, SSIM is improved by 8.56%, UQI is improved by 9.45%, and MSE is reduced by 22.78% using the proposed model compared to the state-of-the-arts.

CFIFusion: Dual‐Branch Complementary Feature Injection Network for Medical Image Fusion

ABSTRACTThe goal of fusing medical images is to integrate the diverse information that multimodal medical images hold. However, the challenges lie in the limitations of imaging sensors and the issue of incomplete modal information retention, which make it difficult to produce images encompassing both functional and anatomical information. To overcome these obstacles, several medical image fusion techniques based on CNN or transformer architectures have been presented. Nevertheless, CNN technique struggles to establish extensive dependencies between the fused and source images, and transformer architecture often overlooks shallow complementary features. To augment both the feature extraction capacity and the stability of the model, we introduce a framework, called dual‐branch complementary feature injection fusion (CFIFusion) technique, a for multimodal medical image fusion framework that combines unsupervised models of CNN model and transformer techniques. Specifically, in our framework, the entire source image and segmented source image are input into an adaptive backbone network to learn global and local features, respectively. To further retain the source images' complementary information, we design a multi‐scale complementary feature extraction framework as an auxiliary module, focusing on calculating feature differences at each level to capture the shallow complementary information. Then, we design a shallow information preservation module tailored for sliced image characteristics. Experimental results on the Harvard whole brain atlas dataset demonstrate that CFIFusion shows greater benefits than recent state‐of‐the‐art algorithms in terms of both subjective and objective evaluations.

Cervical cancer segmentation based on medical images: a literature review.

Cervical cancer clinical target volume (CTV) outlining and organs at risk segmentation are crucial steps in the diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer. Manual segmentation is inefficient and subjective, leading to the development of automated or semi-automated methods. However, limitation of image quality, organ motion, and individual differences still pose significant challenges. Apart from numbers of studies on the medical images' segmentation, a comprehensive review within the field is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively review the literatures on different types of medical image segmentation regarding cervical cancer and discuss the current level and challenges in segmentation process. As of May 31, 2023, we conducted a comprehensive literature search on Google Scholar, PubMed, and Web of Science using the following term combinations: "cervical cancer images", "segmentation", and "outline". The included studies focused on the segmentation of cervical cancer utilizing computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR), and positron emission tomography (PET) images, with screening for eligibility by two independent investigators. This paper reviews representative papers on CTV and organs at risk segmentation in cervical cancer and classifies the methods into three categories based on image modalities. The traditional or deep learning methods are comprehensively described. The similarities and differences of related methods are analyzed, and their advantages and limitations are discussed in-depth. We have also included experimental results by using our private datasets to verify the performance of selected methods. The results indicate that the residual module and squeeze-and-excitation blocks module can significantly improve the performance of the model. Additionally, the segmentation method based on improved level set demonstrates better segmentation accuracy than other methods. The paper provides valuable insights into the current state-of-the-art in cervical cancer CTV outlining and organs at risk segmentation, highlighting areas for future research.

CFIFusion: Dual‐Branch Complementary Feature Injection Network for Medical Image Fusion

ABSTRACTThe goal of fusing medical images is to integrate the diverse information that multimodal medical images hold. However, the challenges lie in the limitations of imaging sensors and the issue of incomplete modal information retention, which make it difficult to produce images encompassing both functional and anatomical information. To overcome these obstacles, several medical image fusion techniques based on CNN or transformer architectures have been presented. Nevertheless, CNN technique struggles to establish extensive dependencies between the fused and source images, and transformer architecture often overlooks shallow complementary features. To augment both the feature extraction capacity and the stability of the model, we introduce a framework, called dual‐branch complementary feature injection fusion (CFIFusion) technique, a for multimodal medical image fusion framework that combines unsupervised models of CNN model and transformer techniques. Specifically, in our framework, the entire source image and segmented source image are input into an adaptive backbone network to learn global and local features, respectively. To further retain the source images' complementary information, we design a multi‐scale complementary feature extraction framework as an auxiliary module, focusing on calculating feature differences at each level to capture the shallow complementary information. Then, we design a shallow information preservation module tailored for sliced image characteristics. Experimental results on the Harvard whole brain atlas dataset demonstrate that CFIFusion shows greater benefits than recent state‐of‐the‐art algorithms in terms of both subjective and objective evaluations.

The status of the AI medical industry in China: A database and statistical analysis

BackgroundArtificial intelligence (AI) technology has developed rapidly in recent years, leading to exponential growth in the AI medical industry. However, a comprehensive investigation of approved medical devices in China is needed. MethodsWe utilized a web crawler to collect data on all medical devices from the China National Medical Products Administration website since 2018. Through natural language processing techniques and manual analysis, we identified all medical devices developed by artificial intelligence medical devices (AIMD) companies and conducted a statistical analysis. ResultsSince 2018, the number of AI-related medical devices approved in China has significantly increased. Most devices (79%) were classified as Class II with moderate risk, whereas 21% were classified as Class III with high risk. Most devices (74.2%) were categorized as medical device software, and the most common application was medical image processing (63.2%). In terms of target body areas, devices related to the heart accounted for the highest proportion (12.8%), followed by those related to the lungs (11.3%) and brain (6.7%). ConclusionThis study establishes a comprehensive database of medical devices developed by AIMD companies in China, enabling the public to gain a coherent understanding of their current development status.