Machine Learning Methods for Biomedical Imaging

A special issue of Bioengineering (ISSN 2306-5354). This special issue belongs to the section "Biosignal Processing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 2468

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Interests: radiation therapy; segmentation; deep learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Duke University Medical Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Interests: radiation oncology; breast cancer; radiotherapy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Interests: radiation therapy; adaptive imaging for radiotherapy; CT; data science; optical imaging; prostate cancer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The field of biomedical imaging is ever growing, with new applications proposed and adopted each year in all aspects of healthcare and biomedical research. The complexity and interconnectedness of the information contained in the biomedical imaging ecosystem has enhanced the clinical decision process, and has diversified the scientific method and how it is applied to medicine and research. This is a golden age for wide-spread applications of artificial intelligence technology, which, taking advantage of computing performance advances and big data availability, has been proven to perform as well as or better than human experts in pattern detection and classification, output consistency, and robustness against confounding factors.

Machine learning methods evolved from original artificial intelligence standards, as scientists optimized algorithms capable of learning from training datasets in order to make inferences for various given problems. Proposed for large scale deployment in healthcare imaging for chronic disease screening and early detection (cardiac disease and cancer), machine learning technologies are experiencing a dynamic expansion in the world of biomedical research. All aspects of image formation, processing, and the analysis of pre- and clinical studies, pathology, and microscopy images, with applications in and beyond medicine, biological and pharmaceutical research, with modalities ranging from X-ray, MRI, molecular imaging, optical, ultrasound, and at the macroscopic and microscopic scales, have all been the subject of machine learning algorithmic implementation. The global expanse machine learning applications in biomedical imaging research is a testament to the resources that the scientific community are vesting towards overcoming the challenges of bringing these paradigm changing advances from research laboratories to clinical applications.

In this Special Issue, entitled “Machine Learning Methods for Biomedical Imaging”, we captured a snapshot of the current efforts that are being made to commit these algorithms to a new evolution step in healthcare standards, one where the clinical process is enhanced by the sublimation of prior knowledge. In defining the scope of the Special Issue, it was obvious that, while the machine learning algorithm architecture and typical deployment converged to certain patterns, their applications were incredibly diverse. Therefore, we present topics of interest including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Biomedical image segmentation
  • Biomedical image classification
  • Biomedical image registration
  • Biomedical image denoising
  • Biomedical image synthesis (e.g., intra- or inter-modalities)
  • Biomedical image reconstruction
  • Biomedical image representation and compression
  • Biomedical image restoration and enhancement
  • Biomedical image argumentation/generation
  • Motion/time series biomedical analysis
  • Quantitative biomedical image analysis/quantitative imaging biomarkers
  • Radiomics and texture representation/analysis.

Dr. Lei Qiu
Dr. Yibo Xie
Dr. Suk Whan Yoon
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • AI
  • machine learning
  • deep learning
  • biomedical image analysis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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20 pages, 6001 KiB  
Article
nnSegNeXt: A 3D Convolutional Network for Brain Tissue Segmentation Based on Quality Evaluation
by Yuchen Liu, Chongchong Song, Xiaolin Ning, Yang Gao and Defeng Wang
Bioengineering 2024, 11(6), 575; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11060575 - 6 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1566
Abstract
Accurate and automated segmentation of brain tissue images can significantly streamline clinical diagnosis and analysis. Manual delineation needs improvement due to its laborious and repetitive nature, while automated techniques encounter challenges stemming from disparities in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition equipment and accurate [...] Read more.
Accurate and automated segmentation of brain tissue images can significantly streamline clinical diagnosis and analysis. Manual delineation needs improvement due to its laborious and repetitive nature, while automated techniques encounter challenges stemming from disparities in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition equipment and accurate labeling. Existing software packages, such as FSL and FreeSurfer, do not fully replace ground truth segmentation, highlighting the need for an efficient segmentation tool. To better capture the essence of cerebral tissue, we introduce nnSegNeXt, an innovative segmentation architecture built upon the foundations of quality assessment. This pioneering framework effectively addresses the challenges posed by missing and inaccurate annotations. To enhance the model’s discriminative capacity, we integrate a 3D convolutional attention mechanism instead of conventional convolutional blocks, enabling simultaneous encoding of contextual information through the incorporation of multiscale convolutional features. Our methodology was evaluated on four multi-site T1-weighted MRI datasets from diverse sources, magnetic field strengths, scanning parameters, temporal instances, and neuropsychiatric conditions. Empirical evaluations on the HCP, SALD, and IXI datasets reveal that nnSegNeXt surpasses the esteemed nnUNet, achieving Dice coefficients of 0.992, 0.987, and 0.989, respectively, and demonstrating superior generalizability across four distinct projects with Dice coefficients ranging from 0.967 to 0.983. Additionally, extensive ablation studies have been implemented to corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed model. These findings represent a notable advancement in brain tissue analysis, suggesting that nnSegNeXt holds the promise to significantly refine clinical workflows. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Machine Learning Methods for Biomedical Imaging)
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