Comprehensive deep learning-assisted multi-condition analysis of knee MRI studies improves resident radiologist performance
摘要
Developing a deep-learning model for automated multi-tissue, multi-condition knee MRI analysis and assessing its clinical potential.
Material and methodsThis retrospective dual-center study included 3121 MRI studies from 3018 adults, who underwent routine knee MRI examinations at a radiologic practice (2012–2019). Twenty-three conditions across cartilage, menisci, bone marrow, ligaments, and other soft tissues were manually labeled. A 3D slice transformer network was trained for binary classification and evaluated in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity using a five-fold cross-validation and an external test set of 448 MRI studies (429 adults) from a university hospital (2022–2023). To assess differences in diagnostic performance, two inexperienced and two experienced radiology residents read 50 external test studies with and without model assistance. Paired t-tests were used for statistical analysis.
ResultsAveraged over cross-validation tests, the model’s AUC was at least 0.85 for 8 conditions and at least 0.75 for 18 conditions. Generalization on the external test set was robust, with a mean absolute AUC difference of 0.05 ± 0.03 per condition. Model assistance improved accuracy and sensitivity for inexperienced residents, increased inter-reader agreement for both groups, and increased sensitivity and shortened reading times by 10% (p = 0.045) for experienced residents. Specificity decreased slightly when conditions with low model performance (AUC < 0.75) were included.
ConclusionOur deep-learning model performed well across diverse knee conditions and effectively assisted radiology residents. Future work should focus on more fine-grained predictions for subtle or rare conditions to enable comprehensive joint assessment in clinical practice.
Key Points