DeepTechnome: Mitigating Unknown Bias in Deep Learning Based Assessment of CT Images

TL;DR

This paper introduces DeepTechnome, a method to reduce unknown biases in deep learning models for CT image analysis by using control regions and a custom layer, improving robustness without prior bias knowledge.

Contribution

It presents a novel bias mitigation technique that does not require prior bias knowledge or data preprocessing, using control regions and a modular DecorreLayer.

Findings

Near-perfect bias mitigation in CT classification tasks

Effective in reducing biases related to reconstruction kernel and noise level

Improves model robustness without prior bias assumptions

Abstract

Reliably detecting diseases using relevant biological information is crucial for real-world applicability of deep learning techniques in medical imaging. We debias deep learning models during training against unknown bias - without preprocessing/filtering the input beforehand or assuming specific knowledge about its distribution or precise nature in the dataset. We use control regions as surrogates that carry information regarding the bias, employ the classifier model to extract features, and suppress biased intermediate features with our custom, modular DecorreLayer. We evaluate our method on a dataset of 952 lung computed tomography scans by introducing simulated biases w.r.t. reconstruction kernel and noise level and propose including an adversarial test set in evaluations of bias reduction techniques. In a moderately sized model architecture, applying the proposed method to learn from data exhibiting a strong bias, it near-perfectly recovers the classification performance observed when training with corresponding unbiased data.