Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41460944›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume2026

A Fully Automated Multistage Deep Learning System for Lenke Classification: Enhanced Diagnostic Precision in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis.

Lingcong Xu, Caiyuan Liu, Wenjie Zhong, Ke Xu, Niezhenghao He, Jiang Hu, Kun Zhang, Haowen Cui

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Lingcong XuDepartment of Orthopedics, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0005-7828-0094
Caiyuan LiuDepartment of Orthopedics, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0005-8896-748
Wenjie ZhongDepartment of Orthopedics, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0007-0141-7640
Ke XuDepartment of Orthopedics, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0008-8705-957
Niezhenghao HeDepartment of Orthopedics, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0000-4244-1996
Jiang HuDepartment of Orthopedics, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0000-0002-9840-9749
Kun ZhangDepartment of Orthopedics, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0004-1901-3060
Haowen CuiDepartment of Orthopedics, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0003-6646-8888

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe Lenke classification for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) has interobserver variability due to subjective clinical assessment. We developed and validated a fully automated deep learning system for precise Lenke classification using spinal radiographs.

methodsThis retrospective study included 650 individuals (mean age, 13.75 ± 2.23 years; 433 female, 217 male; 618 Han Chinese, 32 Tibetan), comprising 183 healthy controls and 467 patients with AIS (aged 10 to 18 years; 25° ≤ Cobb angle < 90°) with full-spine radiographs. A multistage deep learning system consisting of (1) Swin-Unet segmentation of vertebrae (C7-S1) for automated Cobb angle measurement, (2) DeepLabv3+ localization of lumbar pedicles (L1-L5) to determine modifiers via the centroid-to-CSVL (central sacral vertebral line) distance, and (3) a fusion module integrating features to curve types and lumbar (A/B/C) and sagittal thoracic (-/N/+) modifiers was designed to perform end-to-end Lenke classification automatically. Validation used an independent test set.

resultsThe system achieved 95.6% overall accuracy in Lenke classification and had a macro-averaged F1 score of 0.862. Vertebral segmentation attained Dice coefficients of 0.917 (anteroposterior) and 0.942 (lateral). Cobb angle measurements showed excellent agreement with those of experts (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.969 to 0.976 for thoracic or thoracolumbar/lumbar curves). Modifier assignment achieved F1 scores of 0.912 (lumbar A/B/C) and 0.928 (sagittal -/N/+), exceeding clinical acceptability thresholds.

conclusionsThe fully automated system was able to perform rapid, objective, interpretable, and clinically reliable classification of the Lenke type directly from radiographs, with performance comparable with that of expert assessment. It demonstrates potential for standardizing AIS surgical planning, reducing diagnostic variability, and improving surgical workflow efficiency. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Diagnostic Level III . See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Indexed as

Deep LearningScoliosisAdolescentChildFemaleHumansLumbar VertebraeMaleObserver VariationRadiographyRetrospective Studies

Identifiers

PMID41460944
PMCPMC13252961

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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.