Artificial intelligence-based methods have generated substantial interest in nuclear medicine. An area of significant interest has been using deep-learning (DL)-based approaches for denoising images acquired with lower doses, shorter acquisition times, or both. Objective evaluation of these approaches is essential for clinical application. DL-based approaches for denoising nuclear-medicine images have typically been evaluated using fidelity-based figures of merit (FoMs) such as RMSE and SSIM. However, these images are acquired for clinical tasks and thus should be evaluated based on their performance in these tasks. Our objectives were to (1) investigate whether evaluation with these FoMs is consistent with objective clinical-task-based evaluation; (2) provide a theoretical analysis for determining the impact of denoising on signal-detection tasks; (3) demonstrate the utility of virtual clinical trials (VCTs) to evaluate DL-based methods. A VCT to evaluate a DL-based method for denoising myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) images was conducted. The impact of DL-based denoising was evaluated using fidelity-based FoMs and AUC, which quantified performance on detecting perfusion defects in MPS images as obtained using a model observer with anthropomorphic channels. Based on fidelity-based FoMs, denoising using the considered DL-based method led to significantly superior performance. However, based on ROC analysis, denoising did not improve, and in fact, often degraded detection-task performance. The results motivate the need for objective task-based evaluation of DL-based denoising approaches. Further, this study shows how VCTs provide a mechanism to conduct such evaluations using VCTs. Finally, our theoretical treatment reveals insights into the reasons for the limited performance of the denoising approach.
School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King’s College London（伦敦国王学院生物医学工程与影像科学学院）；The Alan Turing Institute（阿兰·图灵研究所）；Philips Healthcare（飞利浦医疗保健）；Eindhoven University of Technology（埃因霍温理工大学）
Automated Inline Analysis of Myocardial Perfusion MRI with Deep Learning
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health（美国国立卫生研究院国家心肺血液研究所）；Barts Health NHS Trust（巴特保健国民保健信托基金）；University of Leeds（利兹大学）；Royal Free Hospital（皇家自由医院）
Compute-Optimal Network Design for Echocardiography Myocardial Segmentation and Perfusion Quantification using Neural Scaling Laws
Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London（生物工程系，帝国理工学院伦敦分校）；National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London（国家心脏和肺 institute，帝国理工学院伦敦分校）；Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust（圣泰莫斯国家健康服务信托基金）
Development and task-based evaluation of a scatter-window projection and deep learning-based transmission-less attenuation compensation method for myocardial perfusion SPECT
A new method incorporating deep learning with shape priors for left ventricular segmentation in myocardial perfusion SPECT images
Zhengzhou University of Light Industry（郑州轻工业大学）；Michigan Technological University（密歇根理工大学）；Xi'an University of Posts and Telecommunications（西安邮电大学）；The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University（南京医科大学第一附属医院）
Improved Robustness for Deep Learning-based Segmentation of Multi-Center Myocardial Perfusion MRI Datasets Using Data Adaptive Uncertainty-guided Space-time Analysis
Indiana University School of Medicine（印第安纳大学医学院）；Purdue University（普渡大学）；University of Calgary（卡尔加里大学）；Cedars-Sinai Medical Center（西达赛奈医疗中心）；Duke University（杜克大学）；The Ohio State University（俄亥俄州立大学）；Weill Cornell Medical Center（威尔康奈尔医学中心）；OhioHealth（俄亥俄健康）
FedDA-TSformer: Federated Domain Adaptation with Vision TimeSformer for Left Ventricle Segmentation on Gated Myocardial Perfusion SPECT Image
Kennesaw State University（肯尼索州立大学）；Michigan Technological University（密歇根理工大学）；Xiangya Hospital, Central South University（中南大学湘雅医院）；Chang Bing Show Chwan Memorial Hospital（彰滨秀传纪念医院）；The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University（南京医科大学第一附属医院）；Health Research Institute, Michigan Technological University（密歇根理工大学健康研究所）
Spatial-temporal V-Net for automatic segmentation and quantification of right ventricles in gated myocardial perfusion SPECT images
Michigan Technological University（密歇根理工大学）；Hai’an People’s Hospital（海安市人民医院）；Rush Medical College（拉什医学院）；Cook County Health（库克县医疗系统）；The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University（南京医科大学第一附属医院）；Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications（西安邮电大学）
Physics-informed self-supervised deep learning reconstruction for accelerated first-pass perfusion cardiac MRI
Universidad de Valladolid（巴利亚多利德大学）；King’s College London（伦敦国王学院）；Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa（里斯本大学高等技术学院）；Centre for Marine Sciences - CCMAR（海洋科学中心（CCMAR））
Automated Detection of Left Ventricle in Arterial Input Function Images for Inline Perfusion Mapping using Deep Learning: A study of 15,000 Patients
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute（国家心肺血液研究所）；National Institutes of Health（美国国立卫生研究院）；Barts Heart Centre（巴特心脏中心）；Royal Free Hospital（皇家自由医院）；University of Leeds（利兹大学）
Point cloud-based registration and image fusion between cardiac SPECT MPI and CTA
Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications（西安邮电大学）；Nanjing Medical University（南京医科大学）；The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University（南京医科大学第一附属医院）；The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University（西安交通大学第一附属医院）；Kennesaw State University（肯尼索州立大学）；Michigan Technological University（密歇根理工大学）
Extreme Cardiac MRI Analysis under Respiratory Motion: Results of the CMRxMotion Challenge
Digital Medical Research Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai 200032, China；Shanghai Key Laboratory of MICCAI, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai 200032, China；Department of Electrical；Electronic Engineering \& I-X, Imperial College London, London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom；Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai 200032, China；Department of Computing, Imperial College London, London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom；School of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1 4DP, United Kingdom；Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 0ES, United Kingdom；Shanghai Pudong Hospital；Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, 201203, China；School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG8 1BB, United Kingdom；Diagnostic Imaging, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1K4, Canada；Department of Computer Science；Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong 000000, China；The D-Lab, Department of Precision Medicine, GROW - Research Institute for Oncology；Reproduction, Maastricht University, 6220 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands；Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven 5612 AZ, The Netherlands；Department of Radiology, Northwestern University, 737 N. Michigan Ave, Suite 1600, Chicago 60611, United States；United Imaging Research, 393 Middle Huaxia Road, Pudong, Shanghai 201210, China；Division of Image Processing, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, PO Box 9600, Leiden 2300 RC, The Netherlands；Université Bourgogne Europe, CNRS, ICMUB UMR 6302, 21000 Dijon, France；Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, 34467, İstanbul, Türkiye；Computer Science, Technical University of Darmstadt, Karolinenpl. 5, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany；Lung Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Guy Scadding Building, Cale Street, London, SW3 6LY,United Kingdom；Hawkes Institute, Department of Computer Science, University College London, 66-72 Gower St, London, United Kingdom；School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, D04 V1W8, Ireland；CeADAR: Ireland's Centre for AI, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, D04 V1W8, Ireland；Sano Centre for Computational Medicine, Czarnowiejska 36, 30-054, Krakow, Poland；Faculty of Mathematics；Computer Science, Jagiellonian University, S. Łojasiewicza 6, Krakow, Poland；Department of Electronic；Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science；School of Instrument Science；Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, Nanjing 210096, China；College of Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing University of Aeronautics；Academy for Engineering；Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai 200433, China；College of Biomedical Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai 200433, China；Institute of Science；Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai 200433, China；Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom；Data Science Institute, Imperial College London, London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
