MRI-based automatic identification and segmentation of extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma using deep learning network

Background Accurate identification of extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC) from an image is challenging because of the small size and complex background structure. Therefore, considering the limitation of manual delineation, it’s necessary to develop automated identification and segmentation methods for ECC. The aim of this study was to develop a deep learning approach for automatic identification and segmentation of ECC using MRI. Methods We recruited 137 ECC patients from our hospital as the main dataset (C1) and an additional 40 patients from other hospitals as the external validation set (C2). All patients underwent axial T1-weighted imaging (T1WI), T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Manual delineations were performed and served as the ground truth. Next, we used 3D VB-Net to establish single-mode automatic identification and segmentation models based on T1WI (model 1), T2WI (model 2), and DWI (model 3) in the training cohort (80% of C1), and compared them with the combined model (model 4). Subsequently, the generalization capability of the best models was evaluated using the testing set (20% of C1) and the external validation set (C2). Finally, the performance of the developed models was further evaluated. Results Model 3 showed the best identification performance in the training, testing, and external validation cohorts with success rates of 0.980, 0.786, and 0.725, respectively. Furthermore, model 3 yielded an average Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 0.922, 0.495, and 0.466 to segment ECC automatically in the training, testing, and external validation cohorts, respectively. Conclusion The DWI-based model performed better in automatically identifying and segmenting ECC compared to T1WI and T2WI, which may guide clinical decisions and help determine prognosis.