BraTS-PEDs: Results of the Multi-Consortium International Pediatric Brain Tumor Segmentation Challenge 2023

TL;DR

The BraTS-PEDs 2023 challenge evaluated AI algorithms for pediatric brain tumor segmentation, promoting collaboration and advancing automated analysis to improve clinical trial response assessment and treatment planning.

Contribution

This is the first pediatric brain tumor segmentation challenge using multi-institutional data, introducing standardized evaluation metrics and fostering collaboration between clinicians and AI researchers.

Findings

Ensembles of nnU-Net and Swin UNETR performed best.

Self-supervised frameworks showed promising results.

The challenge accelerated development of automated volumetric analysis.

Abstract

Pediatric central nervous system tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children. The five-year survival rate for high-grade glioma in children is less than 20%. The development of new treatments is dependent upon multi-institutional collaborative clinical trials requiring reproducible and accurate centralized response assessment. We present the results of the BraTS-PEDs 2023 challenge, the first Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS) challenge focused on pediatric brain tumors. This challenge utilized data acquired from multiple international consortia dedicated to pediatric neuro-oncology and clinical trials. BraTS-PEDs 2023 aimed to evaluate volumetric segmentation algorithms for pediatric brain gliomas from magnetic resonance imaging using standardized quantitative performance evaluation metrics employed across the BraTS 2023 challenges. The top-performing AI approaches for pediatric tumor analysis included ensembles of nnU-Net and Swin UNETR, Auto3DSeg, or nnU-Net with a self-supervised framework. The BraTSPEDs 2023 challenge fostered collaboration between clinicians (neuro-oncologists, neuroradiologists) and AI/imaging scientists, promoting faster data sharing and the development of automated volumetric analysis techniques. These advancements could significantly benefit clinical trials and improve the care of children with brain tumors.