Data Management and Network Architecture Effect on Performance Variability in Direct Attenuation Correction via Deep Learning for Cardiac SPECT: A Feasibility Study

• Published in: IEEE transactions on radiation and plasma medical sciences 2022-09, Vol.6 (7), p.755-765
• Main Authors: Torkaman, Mahsa, Yang, Jaewon, Shi, Luyao, Wang, Rui, Miller, Edward J., Sinusas, Albert J., Liu, Chi, Gullberg, Grant T., Seo, Youngho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attenuation; Attenuation correction (AC); Clustering; Computed tomography; Computer architecture; Data management; Deep learning; Feasibility studies; Generative adversarial networks; Heart; hierarchical clustering; Image reconstruction; Imaging; Medical imaging; myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI); Patients; performance variability; Single photon emission computed tomography; single-photon computed tomography (SPECT); t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (<italic xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">t -SNE); Task analysis; Tomography; Training; Wasserstein cycle generative adversarial network (WCycleGAN)
• ISSN: 2469-7311; 2469-7303
• DOI: 10.1109/TRPMS.2021.3138372

Attenuation correction (AC) is important for the accurate interpretation of single-photon computed tomography (SPECT) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). However, it is challenging to perform AC in dedicated cardiac systems not equipped with a transmission imaging capability. Previously, we demonstrated the feasibility of generating attenuation-corrected SPECT images using a deep learning technique (SPECT DL ) directly from noncorrected images (SPECT NC ). However, we observed performance variability across patients which is an important factor for clinical translation of the technique. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of overcoming the performance variability across patients for the direct AC in SPECT MPI by proposing to develop an advanced network and a data management strategy. To investigate, we compared the accuracy of the SPECT DL for the conventional U-Net and Wasserstein cycle generative adversarial networks (WCycleGANs). To manage the training data, clustering was applied to a representation of data in the lower dimensional space, and the training data were chosen based on the similarity of data in this space. Quantitative analysis demonstrated that the DL model with an advanced network improves the global performance for the AC task with the limited data. However, the regional results were not improved. The proposed data management strategy demonstrated that the clustered training has a potential benefit for effective training.