Clinical Performance and Role of Expert Supervision of Deep Learning for Cardiac Ventricular Volumetry: A Validation Study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the performance of a deep learning (DL) algorithm for clinical measurement of right and left ventricular volume and function across cardiac MR images obtained for a range of clinical indications and pathologies.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant study was conducted using the first 200 noncongenital clinical cardiac MRI examinations from June 2015 to June 2017 for which volumetry was available. Images were analyzed using commercially available software for automated DL-based and manual contouring of biventricular volumes. Fully automated measurements were compared using Pearson correlations, relative volume errors, and Bland-Altman analyses. Manual, automated, and expert revised contours for 50 MR images were examined by comparing regional Dice coefficients at the base, midventricle, and apex to further analyze the contour quality.
RESULTS: Fully automated and manual left ventricular volumes were strongly correlated for end-systolic volume (ESV: Pearson r = 0.99, P < .001), end-diastolic volume (EDV: r = 0.97, P < .001), and ejection fraction (EF: r = 0.94, P < .001). Right ventricular measurements were also correlated for ESV (r = 0.93, P < .001), EDV (r = 0.92, P < .001), and EF (r = 0.73, P < .001). Visual inspection of segmentation quality showed most errors (73%) occurred at the cardiac base. Mean Dice coefficients between manual, automated, and expert revised contours ranged from 0.92 to 0.95, with greatest variance at the base and apex.
CONCLUSION: Fully automated ventricular segmentation by the tested algorithm provides contours and ventricular volumes that could be used to aid expert segmentation, but can benefit from expert supervision, particularly to resolve errors at the basal and apical slices. Supplemental material is available for this article. © RSNA, 2020. 2020 by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc.