Jason Pui Yin Cheung1, Xihe Kuang2, Marcus Kin Long Lai2, Kenneth Man-Chee Cheung2, Jaro Karppinen3,4, Dino Samartzis5,6, Honghan Wu7, Fengdong Zhao8, Zhaomin Zheng9, Teng Zhang2. 1. Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, 5/F Professorial Block, Pokfulam, Hong Kong. cheungjp@hku.hk. 2. Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, 5/F Professorial Block, Pokfulam, Hong Kong. 3. Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. 4. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Oulu, Finland. 5. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Il, USA. 6. International Spine Research and Innovation Initiative, RUSH University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA. 7. Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, UK. 8. Department of Orthopaedics, Faculty of Surgery, Zhejiang University Affiliated Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. 9. Department of Spine Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Lumbar disc degeneration (LDD) may be related to aging, biomechanical and genetic factors. Despite the extensive work on understanding its etiology, there is currently no automated tool for accurate prediction of its progression. PURPOSE: We aim to establish a novel deep learning-based pipeline to predict the progression of LDD-related findings using lumbar MRIs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We utilized our dataset with MRIs acquired from 1,343 individual participants (taken at the baseline and the 5-year follow-up timepoint), and progression assessments (the Schneiderman score, disc bulging, and Pfirrmann grading) that were labelled by spine specialists with over ten years clinical experience. Our new pipeline was realized by integrating the MRI-SegFlow and the Visual Geometry Group-Medium (VGG-M) for automated disc region detection and LDD progression prediction correspondingly. The LDD progression was quantified by comparing the Schneiderman score, disc bulging and Pfirrmann grading at the baseline and at follow-up. A fivefold cross-validation was conducted to assess the predictive performance of the new pipeline. RESULTS: Our pipeline achieved very good performances on the LDD progression prediction, with high progression prediction accuracy of the Schneiderman score (Accuracy: 90.2 ± 0.9%), disc bulging (Accuracy: 90.4% ± 1.1%), and Pfirrmann grading (Accuracy: 89.9% ± 2.1%). CONCLUSION: This is the first attempt of using deep learning to predict LDD progression on a large dataset with 5-year follow-up. Requiring no human interference, our pipeline can potentially achieve similar predictive performances in new settings with minimal efforts.
BACKGROUND: Lumbar disc degeneration (LDD) may be related to aging, biomechanical and genetic factors. Despite the extensive work on understanding its etiology, there is currently no automated tool for accurate prediction of its progression. PURPOSE: We aim to establish a novel deep learning-based pipeline to predict the progression of LDD-related findings using lumbar MRIs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We utilized our dataset with MRIs acquired from 1,343 individual participants (taken at the baseline and the 5-year follow-up timepoint), and progression assessments (the Schneiderman score, disc bulging, and Pfirrmann grading) that were labelled by spine specialists with over ten years clinical experience. Our new pipeline was realized by integrating the MRI-SegFlow and the Visual Geometry Group-Medium (VGG-M) for automated disc region detection and LDD progression prediction correspondingly. The LDD progression was quantified by comparing the Schneiderman score, disc bulging and Pfirrmann grading at the baseline and at follow-up. A fivefold cross-validation was conducted to assess the predictive performance of the new pipeline. RESULTS: Our pipeline achieved very good performances on the LDD progression prediction, with high progression prediction accuracy of the Schneiderman score (Accuracy: 90.2 ± 0.9%), disc bulging (Accuracy: 90.4% ± 1.1%), and Pfirrmann grading (Accuracy: 89.9% ± 2.1%). CONCLUSION: This is the first attempt of using deep learning to predict LDD progression on a large dataset with 5-year follow-up. Requiring no human interference, our pipeline can potentially achieve similar predictive performances in new settings with minimal efforts.
Authors: Frances M K Williams; Maria Popham; Philip N Sambrook; Annette F Jones; Tim D Spector; Alex J MacGregor Journal: Ann Rheum Dis Date: 2011-03-13 Impact factor: 19.103