Automatic segmentation of neurovascular bundle on MRI using deep learning based topological modulated network Journal Article


Authors: Lei, Y.; Wang, T.; Roper, J.; Tian, S.; Patel, P.; Bradley, J. D.; Jani, A. B.; Liu, T.; Yang, X.
Article Title: Automatic segmentation of neurovascular bundle on MRI using deep learning based topological modulated network
Abstract: Purpose: Radiation damage on neurovascular bundles (NVBs) may be the cause of sexual dysfunction after radiotherapy for prostate cancer. However, it is challenging to delineate NVBs as organ-at-risks from planning CTs during radiotherapy. Recently, the integration of MR into radiotherapy made NVBs contour delineating possible. In this study, we aim to develop an MRI-based deep learning method for automatic NVB segmentation. Methods: The proposed method, named topological modulated network, consists of three subnetworks, that is, a focal modulation, a hierarchical block and a topological fully convolutional network (FCN). The focal modulation is used to derive the location and bounds of left and right NVBs’, namely the candidate volume-of-interests (VOIs). The hierarchical block aims to highlight the NVB boundaries information on derived feature map. The topological FCN then segments the NVBs inside the VOIs by considering the topological consistency nature of the vascular delineating. Based on the location information of candidate VOIs, the segmentations of NVBs can then be brought back to the input MRI's coordinate system. Results: A five-fold cross-validation study was performed on 60 patient cases to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The segmented results were compared with manual contours. The Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and 95th percentile Hausdorff distance (HD95) are (left NVB) 0.81 ± 0.10, 1.49 ± 0.88 mm, and (right NVB) 0.80 ± 0.15, 1.54 ± 1.22 mm, respectively. Conclusion: We proposed a novel deep learning-based segmentation method for NVBs on pelvic MR images. The good segmentation agreement of our method with the manually drawn ground truth contours supports the feasibility of the proposed method, which can be potentially used to spare NVBs during proton and photon radiotherapy and thereby improve the quality of life for prostate cancer patients. © 2023 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.
Keywords: adult; controlled study; major clinical study; validation process; cancer patient; nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; magnetic resonance imaging; quality of life; radiotherapy; diagnostic imaging; prostate cancer; prostatic neoplasms; feasibility study; sexual dysfunction; prostate tumor; urology; photon therapy; image processing, computer-assisted; segmentation; image processing; prostate cancers; diseases; mri; neurovascular bundle; topology; image segmentation; organs at risks; radiation damage; automatic segmentations; feature extraction; procedures; neurovascular bundles; humans; human; male; article; deep learning; convolutional networks; convolutional neural network; cross validation; planning ct; volume of interest
Journal Title: Medical Physics
Volume: 50
Issue: 9
ISSN: 0094-2405
Publisher: American Association of Physicists in Medicine  
Date Published: 2023-09-01
Start Page: 5479
End Page: 5488
Language: English
DOI: 10.1002/mp.16378
PUBMED: 36939189
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC10509305
DOI/URL:
Notes: Article -- MSK Cancer Center Support Grant (P30 CA008748) acknowledged in PubMed and PDF -- Source: Scopus
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  1. Tonghe Wang
    51 Wang