Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42618738›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery2026

Automatic MRI-Based segmentation of ablation zones in spine and liver: A comparative study of network performance and influencing factors.

Janine Rothert, Sylvia Saalfeld, Marcel Gutberlet, Frank Wacker, Daniel Düx, Bennet Hensen, Mathias Becker, Georg Rose, Georg Hille

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Article in International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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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

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Janine RothertInstitute for Medical Engineering, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany. janine.rothert@ovgu.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7050-8828
Sylvia SaalfeldInstitute for Medical Informatics and Artificial Intelligence, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
Marcel GutberletResearch Campus Stimulate, Magdeburg, Germany.
Frank WackerResearch Campus Stimulate, Magdeburg, Germany.
Daniel DüxResearch Campus Stimulate, Magdeburg, Germany.
Bennet HensenResearch Campus Stimulate, Magdeburg, Germany.
Mathias BeckerRadiology and Nuclear Medicine, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
Georg RoseInstitute for Medical Engineering, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
Georg HilleInstitute for Medical Informatics and Artificial Intelligence, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany.

Funding

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung 13GW0473ADeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 547369510
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeAblation therapies are a treatment option for cancer patients, particularly for conditions such as spinal metastases and liver tumors. Precisely delineating ablation zones is essential for accurately assessing treatment success. However, research in MRI-guided interventions remains limited for automated segmentation approaches and quantitative analysis.

methodsWe developed a framework for automated segmentation of ablation zones following thermal interventions. The performance was tested on two representative types of clinical cases from different clinical sites: post-ablative liver lesions and spinal metastases. Four leading neural networks (nnUNet, TransUNet, SwinUNETR, and SwinUNETR-V2) were evaluated for their segmentation accuracy in segmenting necrotic tissue. Additionally, a statistical analysis was performed to investigate the influence of an optimized image ROI selection on the segmentation performance.

resultsThe nnUNet achieved the highest segmentation performance, with a Dice Similarity Coefficient of 83.3 ± 13.2% for spinal metastases and 82.2 ± 12.4% for liver lesions. The statistical analysis revealed that cropping images to a standardized ROI size provided the optimal balance between user interaction and networks' performance.

conclusionThe automated segmentation accuracies are comparable to the inter-rater variability observed among radiologists for spinal imaging and establish the new state-of-the-art for liver MRIs, indicating the potential to facilitate the clinical routine for interventions.

Indexed as

Ablation ZoneDeep LearningLiverSegmentationSpinal MetastasesThermal Ablation

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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.