Validation of musculoskeletal segmentation model with uncertainty estimation for bone and muscle assessment in hip-to-knee clinical CT images

TL;DR

This study validates a deep learning model for volumetric musculoskeletal segmentation in clinical CT images, emphasizing uncertainty estimation for improved failure detection and reliable large-scale analysis.

Contribution

The paper introduces an improved 3D MSK segmentation model with uncertainty estimation validated on diverse clinical CT datasets, enhancing accuracy and failure detection capabilities.

Findings

High segmentation accuracy across diverse datasets

Effective failure detection with AUROC >= 0.95

Reliable volume and density estimation in clinical CT images

Abstract

Deep learning-based image segmentation has allowed for the fully automated, accurate, and rapid analysis of musculoskeletal (MSK) structures from medical images. However, current approaches were either applied only to 2D cross-sectional images, addressed few structures, or were validated on small datasets, which limit the application in large-scale databases. This study aimed to validate an improved deep learning model for volumetric MSK segmentation of the hip and thigh with uncertainty estimation from clinical computed tomography (CT) images. Databases of CT images from multiple manufacturers/scanners, disease status, and patient positioning were used. The segmentation accuracy, and accuracy in estimating the structures volume and density, i.e., mean HU, were evaluated. An approach for segmentation failure detection based on predictive uncertainty was also investigated. The model has shown an overall improvement with respect to all segmentation accuracy and structure volume/density evaluation metrics. The predictive uncertainty yielded large areas under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves (AUROCs>=.95) in detecting inaccurate and failed segmentations. The high segmentation and muscle volume/density estimation accuracy, along with the high accuracy in failure detection based on the predictive uncertainty, exhibited the model's reliability for analyzing individual MSK structures in large-scale CT databases.