Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39658686›Full record

ArticleEuropean radiology2025

Convolutional neural networks for automatic MR classification of myocardial iron overload in thalassemia major patients.

Vincenzo Positano, Antonella Meloni, Lisa Anita De Santi, Laura Pistoia, Zelia Borsellino, Alberto Cossu, Francesco Massei, Paola Maria Grazia Sanna, Maria Filomena Santarelli, Filippo Cademartiri

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Article in European radiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

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2citing papers in PubMed
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2 citing papers in PubMed.

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10 authors.

Vincenzo PositanoBioengineering Unit, Fondazione G. Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana, Pisa, Italy. positano@ftgm.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6955-9572
Antonella MeloniBioengineering Unit, Fondazione G. Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana, Pisa, Italy.
Lisa Anita De SantiBioengineering Unit, Fondazione G. Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana, Pisa, Italy.
Laura PistoiaDepartment of Radiology, Fondazione G. Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana, Pisa, Italy.
Zelia BorsellinoUnità Operativa Complessa Ematologia con Talassemia, ARNAS Civico "Benfratelli-Di Cristina", Palermo, Italy.
Alberto CossuUnità Operativa Radiologia Universitaria, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria "S. Anna", Ferrara, Italy.
Francesco MasseiUO Oncoematologia Pediatrica, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Pisana, Pisa, Italy.
Paola Maria Grazia SannaServizio trasfusionale aziendale, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria di Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
Maria Filomena SantarelliCNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy.
Filippo CademartiriDepartment of Radiology, Fondazione G. Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana, Pisa, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo develop a deep-learning model for supervised classification of myocardial iron overload (MIO) from magnitude T2* multi-echo MR images. MATERIALS AND

methodsEight hundred twenty-three cardiac magnitude T2* multi-slice, multi-echo MR images from 496 thalassemia major patients (285 females, 57%), labeled for MIO level (normal: T2* > 20 ms, moderate: 10 ≤ T2* ≤ 20 ms, severe: T2* < 10 ms), were retrospectively studied. Two 2D convolutional neural networks (CNN) developed for multi-slice (MS-HippoNet) and single-slice (SS-HippoNet) analysis were trained using 5-fold cross-validation. Performance was assessed using micro-average, multi-class accuracy, and single-class accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. CNN performance was compared with inter-observer agreement between radiologists on 20% of the patients. The agreement between patients' classifications was assessed by the inter-agreement Kappa test.

resultsAmong the 165 images in the test set, a multi-class accuracy of 0.885 and 0.836 was obtained for MS- and SS-Hippo-Net, respectively. Network performances were confirmed on external test set analysis (0.827 and 0.793 multi-class accuracy, 29 patients from the CHMMOTv1 database). The agreement between automatic and ground truth classification was good (MS: κ = 0.771; SS: κ = 0.614), comparable with the inter-observer agreement (MS: κ = 0.872, SS: κ = 0.907) evaluated on the test set.

conclusionThe developed networks performed classification of MIO level from multiecho, bright-blood, and T2* images with good performances. KEY POINTS: Question MRI T2* represents the established clinical tool for MIO assessment. Quality control of the image analysis is a problem in small centers. Findings Deep learning models can perform MIO staging with good accuracy, comparable to inter-observer variability of the standard procedure. Clinical relevance CNN can perform automated staging of cardiac iron overload from multiecho MR sequences facilitating non-invasive evaluation of patients with various hematologic disorders.

Indexed as

beta-ThalassemiaImage Interpretation, Computer-AssistedIron OverloadMagnetic Resonance ImagingNeural Networks, ComputerAdolescentAdultChildConvolutional Neural NetworksDeep LearningFemaleHumansMaleRetrospective StudiesSensitivity and SpecificityYoung AdultComputer-assisted image processingDeep learningHemochromatosisIron overloadMagnetic resonance imaging

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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.