Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34889509›Full record

ArticleJournal of applied clinical medical physics2022

Deep-learning-assisted algorithm for catheter reconstruction during MR-only gynecological interstitial brachytherapy.

Amani Shaaer, Moti Paudel, Mackenzie Smith, Frances Tonolete, Ananth Ravi

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of applied clinical medical physics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.5field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Deep learning in MRI-guided radiation therapy: A systematic review.Journal of applied clinical medical physics · 2024
    Pooled it
  2. Systematic review of artificial intelligence in brachytherapy.Journal of contemporary brachytherapy · 2026
    Review
  3. Article
  4. A review of artificial intelligence in brachytherapy.Journal of applied clinical medical physics · 2025
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Amani ShaaerDepartment of Physics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Moti PaudelDepartment of Medical Physics, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Mackenzie SmithDepartment of Radiation Therapy, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Frances TonoleteDepartment of Radiation Therapy, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Ananth RaviDepartment of Medical Physics, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Health Sciences Centre · CASunnybrook Health Science Centre · CAKing Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre · SA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers excellent soft-tissue contrast enabling the contouring of targets and organs at risk during gynecological interstitial brachytherapy procedure. Despite its advantage, one of the main obstacles preventing a transition to an MRI-only workflow is that implanted plastic catheters are not reliably visualized on MR images. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of a deep-learning-based algorithm for semiautomatic reconstruction of interstitial catheters during an MR-only workflow. MR images of 20 gynecological patients were used in this study. Note that 360 catheters were reconstructed using T1- and T2-weighted images by five experienced brachytherapy planners. The mean of the five reconstructed paths were used for training (257 catheters), validation (15 catheters), and testing/evaluation (88 catheters). To automatically identify and localize the catheters, a two-dimensional (2D) U-net algorithm was used to find their approximate location in each image slice. Once localized, thresholding was applied to those regions to find the extrema, as catheters appear as bright and dark regions in T1- and T2-weighted images, respectively. The localized dwell positions of the proposed algorithm were compared to the ground truth reconstruction. Reconstruction time was also evaluated. A total of 34 009 catheter dwell positions were evaluated between the algorithm and all planners to estimate the reconstruction variability. The average variation was 0.97 ± 0.66 mm. The average reconstruction time for this approach was 11 ± 1 min, compared with 46 ± 10 min for the expert planners. This study suggests that the proposed deep learning, MR-based framework has potential to replace the conventional manual catheter reconstruction. The adoption of this approach in the brachytherapy workflow is expected to improve treatment efficiency while reducing planning time, resources, and human errors.

Indexed as

BrachytherapyDeep LearningAlgorithmsCathetersHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingRadiotherapy DosageRadiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assistedcatheter reconstructiondeep learninggynecological brachytherapyHDRMR-only brachytherapy

Identifiers

PMID34889509
PMCPMC8833281
OpenAlexW4200299955

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.