用Transformer自动分割骨与软组织,提升骨质疏松诊断准确率。
Transformer-Based Multi-Region Segmentation and Radiomic Analysis of HR-pQCT Imaging for Osteoporosis Classification
- 基于SegFormer模型实现胫骨、腓骨及周围软组织的多区域自动分割。
- 软组织特征比骨特征更优,图像级准确率达80.08%,患者级AUROC达0.875。
- 首次将Transformer用于HR-pQCT多区域分析,适合医学影像与人工智能交叉研究者。
骨质疏松通常通过双能X线吸收测定法(DXA)诊断,该方法仅量化面积骨密度,忽略骨微结构和周围软组织。高分辨率外周定量计算机断层扫描(HR-pQCT)可实现低辐射三维微结构成像,但现有分析流程多聚焦于矿化骨区域,大量数据未被充分利用。本文提出一种全自动框架,基于解剖学分割的HR-pQCT图像提取放射组学特征,进行骨质疏松二分类。首次采用基于Transformer的SegFormer模型实现胫骨、腓骨及周围软组织的同步分割,平均F1分数达95.36%。软组织进一步细分为皮肤、肌腱肌肉和脂肪组织。从各区域提取939个放射组学特征,经降维后在包含122例扫描共20,496张图像的独立数据集上训练六种机器学习分类器。最佳图像级表现来自肌腱肌肉组织特征,准确率为80.08%,受试者工作特征曲线下面积(AUROC)为0.85,优于基于骨的模型。在患者层面,以软组织放射组学替代常规生物、DXA及HR-pQCT参数,使AUROC从0.792提升至0.875。结果表明,自动化多区域分割可挖掘骨以外的临床信息,强调整合组织评估对骨质疏松检测的重要性。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease typically diagnosed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which quantifies areal bone mineral density but overlooks bone microarchitecture and surrounding soft tissues. High-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) enables three-dimensional microstructural imaging with minimal radiation. However, current analysis pipelines largely focus on mineralized bone compartments, leaving much of the acquired image data underutilized. We introduce a fully automated framework for binary osteoporosis classification using radiomics features extracted from anatomically segmented HR-pQCT images. To our knowledge, this work is the first to leverage a transformer-based segmentation architecture, i.e., the SegFormer, for fully automated multi-region HR-pQCT analysis. The SegFormer model simultaneously delineated the cortical and trabecular bone of the tibia and fibula along with surrounding soft tissues and achieved a mean F1 score of 95.36%. Soft tissues were further subdivided into skin, myotendinous, and adipose regions through post-processing. From each region, 939 radiomic features were extracted and dimensionally reduced to train six machine learning classifiers on an independent dataset comprising 20,496 images from 122 HR-pQCT scans. The best image level performance was achieved using myotendinous tissue features, yielding an accuracy of 80.08% and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.85, outperforming bone-based models. At the patient level, replacing standard biological, DXA, and HR-pQCT parameters with soft tissue radiomics improved AUROC from 0.792 to 0.875. These findings demonstrate that automated, multi-region HR-pQCT segmentation enables the extraction of clinically informative signals beyond bone alone, highlighting the importance of integrated tissue assessment for osteoporosis detection.
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