Automated Kidney Tumor Segmentation in CT Images Using Deep Learning: A Multi-Stage Approach.
Authors
Affiliations (6)
Affiliations (6)
- In-Service Master Program in Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (H.-C.K., S.-J.P.); Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan (H.-C.K., P-H.L., I.-H.S., K.-J.Y., S.-T.P., T.W.); College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan (H.-C.K., P-H.L., I.-H.S., K.-J.Y., S.-T.P., T.W.).
- Department of General Medicine, Chang-Geng Medical Foundation Keelung Chang-Geng Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan (G.-M.F.); Department of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (G.-M.F.).
- Department of Electrical Engineering, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan (M.-H.W.).
- Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan (H.-C.K., P-H.L., I.-H.S., K.-J.Y., S.-T.P., T.W.); College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan (H.-C.K., P-H.L., I.-H.S., K.-J.Y., S.-T.P., T.W.).
- Department of General Surgery, Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan (T.-H.C.).
- In-Service Master Program in Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (H.-C.K., S.-J.P.); Clinical Big Data Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (S.-J.P.). Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract
Computed tomography (CT) remains the primary modality for assessing renal tumors; however, tumor identification and segmentation rely heavily on manual interpretation by clinicians, which is time-consuming and subject to inter-observer variability. The heterogeneity of tumor appearance and indistinct margins further complicate accurate delineation, impacting histopathological classification, treatment planning, and prognostic assessment. There is a pressing clinical need for an automated segmentation tool to enhance diagnostic workflows and support clinical decision-making with results that are reliable, accurate, and reproducible. This study developed a fully automated pipeline based on the DeepMedic 3D convolutional neural network for the segmentation of kidneys and renal tumors through multi-scale feature extraction. The model was trained and evaluated using 5-fold cross-validation on a dataset of 382 contrast-enhanced CT scans manually annotated by experienced physicians. Image preprocessing included Hounsfield unit conversion, windowing, 3D reconstruction, and voxel resampling. Post-processing was also employed to refine output masks and improve model generalizability. The proposed model achieved high performance in kidney segmentation, with an average Dice coefficient of 93.82 ± 1.38%, precision of 94.86 ± 1.59%, and recall of 93.66 ± 1.77%. In renal tumor segmentation, the model attained a Dice coefficient of 88.19 ± 1.24%, precision of 90.36 ± 1.90%, and recall of 88.23 ± 2.02%. Visual comparisons with ground truth annotations confirmed the clinical relevance and accuracy of the predictions. The proposed DeepMedic-based framework demonstrates robust, accurate segmentation of kidneys and renal tumors on CT images. With its potential for real-time application, this model could enhance diagnostic efficiency and treatment planning in renal oncology.