Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41224940›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

An unsupervised XAI framework for dementia detection with context enrichment.

Devesh Singh, Yusuf Brima, Fedor Levin, Martin Becker, Bjarne Hiller, Andreas Hermann, Irene Villar-Munoz, Lukas Beichert, Alexander Bernhardt, Katharina Buerger and 37 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

47 authors.

Devesh SinghGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany. devesh.singh@med.uni-rostock.de.
Yusuf BrimaGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany.
Fedor LevinGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany.
Martin BeckerInstitute for Visual and Analytic Computing, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
Bjarne HillerInstitute for Visual and Analytic Computing, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
Andreas HermannGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany.
Irene Villar-MunozGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany.
Lukas BeichertDivision Translational Genomics of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research and Center of Neurology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Alexander BernhardtGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich, Germany.
Katharina BuergerGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich, Germany.
Michaela ButrynGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany.
Peter DechentMR-Research in Neurosciences, Department of Cognitive Neurology, University Medical Center Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany.
Emrah DüzelGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany.
Michael EwersGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich, Germany.
Klaus FliessbachGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
Silka D FreieslebenGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany.
Wenzel GlanzGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany.
Stefan HetzerBerlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Daniel JanowitzInstitute for Stroke & Dementia Research, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Doreen GörßGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany.
Ingo KilimannGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany.
Okka KimmichGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
Christoph LaskeGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Tübingen, Germany.
Johannes LevinGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich, Germany.
Andrea LohseDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Falk LuesebrinkGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany.
Matthias MunkGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Tübingen, Germany.
Robert PerneczkyGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich, Germany.
Oliver PetersGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany.
Lukas PreisDepartment of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12203, Berlin, Germany.
Josef PrillerGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany.
Johannes PrudloGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany.
Diana PrychynenkoGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany.
Boris S RauchmannDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Ayda RostamzadehDepartment of Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Nina Roy-KluthGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
Klaus SchefflerDepartment for Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Anja SchneiderGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
Louise Droste Zu SendenExperimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Lindenberger Weg 80, 13125, Berlin, Germany.
Björn H SchottGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Goettingen, Germany.
Annika SpottkeGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
Matthis SynofzikDivision Translational Genomics of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research and Center of Neurology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Jens WiltfangGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Goettingen, Germany.
Frank JessenGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
Marc-André WeberInstitute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Pediatric Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Medical Centre Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
Stefan J TeipelGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany.
Martin DyrbaGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany. martin.dyrba@dzne.de.

Funding

Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative - SupplementU01AG024904 · NIA · NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE RES &EDUC · PI WEINER, MICHAEL W · 2004 to 2015
$121.0M
The Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Neuroimaging InitiativeR01AG032306 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI ROSEN, HOWARD J · 2009 to 2013
$10.0M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG032306NIA NIH HHS U01 AG024904
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) methods enhance the diagnostic efficiency of clinical decision support systems by making the predictions of a convolutional neural network's (CNN) on brain imaging more transparent and trustworthy. However, their clinical adoption is limited due to limited validation of the explanation quality. Our study introduces a framework that evaluates XAI methods by integrating neuroanatomical morphological features with CNN-generated relevance maps for disease classification. We trained a CNN using brain MRI scans from six cohorts: ADNI, AIBL, DELCODE, DESCRIBE, EDSD, and NIFD (N = 3253), including participants that were cognitively normal, with amnestic mild cognitive impairment, dementia due to Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. Clustering analysis benchmarked different explanation space configurations by using morphological features as proxy-ground truth. We implemented three post-hoc explanations methods: (i) by simplifying model decisions, (ii) explanation-by-example, and (iii) textual explanations. A qualitative evaluation by clinicians (N = 6) was performed to assess their clinical validity. Clustering performance improved in morphology enriched explanation spaces, improving both homogeneity and completeness of the clusters. Post hoc explanations by model simplification largely delineated converters and stable participants, while explanation-by-example presented possible cognition trajectories. Textual explanations gave rule-based summarization of pathological findings. Clinicians' qualitative evaluation highlighted challenges and opportunities of XAI for different clinical applications. Our study refines XAI explanation spaces and applies various approaches for generating explanations. Within the context of AI-based decision support system in dementia research we found the explanations methods to be promising towards enhancing diagnostic efficiency, backed up by the clinical assessments.

Indexed as

Artificial IntelligenceDementiaAgedAged, 80 and overAlzheimer DiseaseBrainCognitive DysfunctionFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleNeural Networks, ComputerAlzheimer’s diseaseBrain volumetryExplainable artificial intelligence (XAI)Frontotemporal dementiaMagnetic resonance imagingNeurodegenerative diseasesQualitative evaluation

Identifiers

PMID41224940
PMCPMC12612133

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.