TY - JOUR A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Vieten, Andrea A1 - Salber, Dagmar A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe T1 - Evaluation of Registration Strategies for Multi-modality Images of Rat Brain Slices JF - Physics in Medicine and Biology N2 - In neuroscience, small-animal studies frequently involve dealing with series of images from multiple modalities such as histology and autoradiography. The consistent and bias-free restacking of multi-modality image series is obligatory as a starting point for subsequent non-rigid registration procedures and for quantitative comparisons with positron emission tomography (PET) and other in vivo data. Up to now, consistency between 2D slices without cross validation using an inherent 3D modality is frequently presumed to be close to the true morphology due to the smooth appearance of the contours of anatomical structures. However, in multi-modality stacks consistency is difficult to assess. In this work, consistency is defined in terms of smoothness of neighboring slices within a single modality and between different modalities. Registration bias denotes the distortion of the registered stack in comparison to the true 3D morphology and shape. Based on these metrics, different restacking strategies of multi-modality rat brain slices are experimentally evaluated. Experiments based on MRI-simulated and real dual-tracer autoradiograms reveal a clear bias of the restacked volume despite quantitatively high consistency and qualitatively smooth brain structures. However, different registration strategies yield different inter-consistency metrics. If no genuine 3D modality is available, the use of the so-called SOP (slice-order preferred) or MOSOP (modality-and-slice-order preferred) strategy is recommended. KW - Histologie KW - Bildgebendes Verfahren KW - Schnittdarstellung KW - Multimodales Verfahren Y1 - 2009 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/54/10/021 VL - 54 IS - 10 SP - 3269 EP - 3289 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Axer, Markus A1 - Amunts, Katrin A1 - Gräßel, David A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Dammers, Jürgen A1 - Axer, Hubertus A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Zilles, Karl T1 - Novel Approach to the Human Connectome BT - Ultra-High Resolution Mapping of Fiber Tracts in the Brain JF - NeuroImage N2 - Signal transmission between different brain regions requires connecting fiber tracts, the structural basis of the human connectome. In contrast to animal brains, where a multitude of tract tracing methods can be used, magnetic resonance (MR)-based diffusion imaging is presently the only promising approach to study fiber tracts between specific human brain regions. However, this procedure has various inherent restrictions caused by its relatively low spatial resolution. Here, we introduce 3D-polarized light imaging (3D-PLI) to map the three-dimensional course of fiber tracts in the human brain with a resolution at a submillimeter scale based on a voxel size of 100 μm isotropic or less. 3D-PLI demonstrates nerve fibers by utilizing their intrinsic birefringence of myelin sheaths surrounding axons. This optical method enables the demonstration of 3D fiber orientations in serial microtome sections of entire human brains. Examples for the feasibility of this novel approach are given here. 3D-PLI enables the study of brain regions of intense fiber crossing in unprecedented detail, and provides an independent evaluation of fiber tracts derived from diffusion imaging data. KW - Connectome KW - Human brain KW - Method KW - Polarized light imaging KW - Tractography KW - Systems biology KW - Bildgebendes Verfahren KW - Dreidimensionale Bildverarbeitung KW - Polarisiertes Licht KW - Gehirnkarte Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.08.075 VL - 54 IS - 2 SP - 1091 EP - 1101 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Souza Jr., Luis Antonio de A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Strasser, Sophia A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Papa, João Paulo A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Convolutional Neural Networks for the evaluation of cancer in Barrett’s esophagus: Explainable AI to lighten up the black-box JF - Computers in Biology and Medicine N2 - Even though artificial intelligence and machine learning have demonstrated remarkable performances in medical image computing, their level of accountability and transparency must be provided in such evaluations. The reliability related to machine learning predictions must be explained and interpreted, especially if diagnosis support is addressed. For this task, the black-box nature of deep learning techniques must be lightened up to transfer its promising results into clinical practice. Hence, we aim to investigate the use of explainable artificial intelligence techniques to quantitatively highlight discriminative regions during the classification of earlycancerous tissues in Barrett’s esophagus-diagnosed patients. Four Convolutional Neural Network models (AlexNet, SqueezeNet, ResNet50, and VGG16) were analyzed using five different interpretation techniques (saliency, guided backpropagation, integrated gradients, input × gradients, and DeepLIFT) to compare their agreement with experts’ previous annotations of cancerous tissue. We could show that saliency attributes match best with the manual experts’ delineations. Moreover, there is moderate to high correlation between the sensitivity of a model and the human-and-computer agreement. The results also lightened that the higher the model’s sensitivity, the stronger the correlation of human and computational segmentation agreement. We observed a relevant relation between computational learning and experts’ insights, demonstrating how human knowledge may influence the correct computational learning. KW - Deep Learning KW - Künstliche Intelligenz KW - Computerunterstützte Medizin KW - Barrett's esophagus KW - Adenocarcinoma KW - Machine learning KW - Explainable artificial intelligence KW - Computer-aided diagnosis Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-20126 SN - 0010-4825 VL - 135 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bauer, Dagmar A1 - Hamacher, Kurt A1 - Bröer, Stefan A1 - Pauleit, Dirk A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Zilles, Karl A1 - Coenen, Heinz H. A1 - Langen, Karl-Josef T1 - Preferred stereoselective brain uptake of D-serine BT - a modulator of glutamatergic neurotransmission JF - Nuclear Medicine and Biology N2 - Although it has long been presumed that d-amino acids are uncommon in mammalians, substantial amounts of free d-serine have been detected in the mammalian brain. d-Serine has been demonstrated to be an important modulator of glutamatergic neurotransmission and acts as an agonist at the strychnine-insensitive glycine site of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors. The blood-to-brain transfer of d-serine is thought to be extremely low, and it is assumed that d-serine is generated by isomerization of l-serine in the brain. Stimulated by the observation of a preferred transport of the d-isomer of proline at the blood–brain barrier, we investigated the differential uptake of [3H]-d-serine and [3H]-l-serine in the rat brain 1 h after intravenous injection using quantitative autoradiography. Surprisingly, brain uptake of [3H]-d-serine was significantly higher than that of [3H]-l-serine, indicating a preferred transport of the d-enantiomer of serine at the blood–brain barrier. This finding indicates that exogenous d-serine may have a direct influence on glutamatergic neurotransmission and associated diseases. KW - Aminosäuren KW - Gehirn KW - Blut-Hirn-Schranke KW - Aufnahme KW - d/l-serine KW - Amino acid transport KW - Blood–brain barrier KW - NMDA receptors Y1 - 2005 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucmedbio.2005.07.004 VL - 32 IS - 8 SP - 793 EP - 797 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lehmann, Thomas M. A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Color Line Search for Illuminant Estimation in Real World Scenes JF - Journal of the Optical Society of America (JOSA) A N2 - The estimation of illuminant color is mandatory for many applications in the field of color image quantification. However, it is an unresolved problem if no additional heuristics or restrictive assumptions apply. Assuming uniformly colored and roundly shaped objects, Lee has presented a theory and a method for computing the scene-illuminant chromaticity from specular highlights [H. C. Lee, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 3, 1694 (1986)]. However, Lee’s method, called image path search, is less robust to noise and is limited in the handling of microtextured surfaces. We introduce a novel approach to estimate the color of a single illuminant for noisy and microtextured images, which frequently occur in real-world scenes. Using dichromatic regions of different colored surfaces, our approach, named color line search, reverses Lee’s strategy of image path search. Reliable color lines are determined directly in the domain of the color diagrams by three steps. First, regions of interest are automatically detected around specular highlights, and local color diagrams are computed. Second, color lines are determined according to the dichromatic reflection model by Hough transform of the color diagrams. Third, a consistency check is applied by a corresponding path search in the image domain. Our method is evaluated on 40 natural images of fruit and vegetables. In comparison with those of Lee’s method, accuracy and stability are substantially improved. In addition, the color line search approach can easily be extended to scenes of objects with macrotextured surfaces. Y1 - 2001 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAA.18.002679 VL - 18 IS - 11 SP - 2679 EP - 2691 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Color Texture Classification by Integrative Co-Occurrence Matrices JF - Pattern Recognition N2 - Integrative Co-occurrence matrices are introduced as novel features for color texture classification. The extended Co-occurrence notation allows the comparison between integrative and parallel color texture concepts. The information profit of the new matrices is shown quantitatively using the Kolmogorov distance and by extensive classification experiments on two datasets. Applying them to the RGB and the LUV color space the combined color and intensity textures are studied and the existence of intensity independent pure color patterns is demonstrated. The results are compared with two baselines: gray-scale texture analysis and color histogram analysis. The novel features improve the classification results up to 20% and 32% for the first and second baseline, respectively. KW - Color texture KW - Co-occurrence matrix KW - Integrative features KW - KolmogKorov distance KW - Image classification Y1 - 2004 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patcog.2003.09.010 VL - 37 IS - 5 SP - 965 EP - 976 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brown, Peter A1 - Consortium, RELISH A1 - Zhou, Yaoqi A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search JF - Database N2 - Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency–Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research. KW - Information Retrieval KW - Indexierung KW - Literaturdatenbank KW - Dokument KW - Ähnlichkeitssuche KW - Suchmaschine Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baz085 VL - 2019 SP - 1 EP - 66 PB - Oxford University Pres ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Neuschaefer-Rube, C. A1 - Lehmann, Thomas M. A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Bredno, J. A1 - Klajman, S. A1 - Spitzer, Klaus T1 - 3D-Visualisierung glottaler Abduktionsbewegungen JF - Aktuelle phoniatrisch-pädaudiologische Aspekte Y1 - 2001 SN - 3-922766-76-5 VL - 2001/2002 IS - 9 SP - 58 EP - 61 PB - Median ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Dehnhardt, Markus A1 - Vieten, Andrea A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Bauer, Andreas A1 - Zilles, Karl T1 - 3D rat brain tumors JF - Naunyn-Schmiedebergs Archives of Pharmacology Y1 - 2005 VL - 371 IS - R103 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Manzeneder, Johannes A1 - Prinz, Friederike A1 - Souza Jr., Luis Antonio de A1 - Papa, João Paulo A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Messmann, Helmut T1 - Real-time use of artificial intelligence in the evaluation of cancer in Barrett’s oesophagus JF - Gut N2 - Based on previous work by our group with manual annotation of visible Barrett oesophagus (BE) cancer images, a real-time deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) system was developed. While an expert endoscopist conducts the endoscopic assessment of BE, our AI system captures random images from the real-time camera livestream and provides a global prediction (classification), as well as a dense prediction (segmentation) differentiating accurately between normal BE and early oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). The AI system showed an accuracy of 89.9% on 14 cases with neoplastic BE. KW - Speiseröhrenkrankheit KW - Diagnose KW - Maschinelles Lernen KW - Barrett's esophagus KW - Deep learning KW - real-time Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2019-319460 VL - 69 IS - 4 SP - 615 EP - 616 PB - BMJ CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Lehmann, Thomas M. T1 - Classification of Color Textures by Gabor Filtering JF - Machine GRAPHICS & VISION Y1 - 2002 VL - 11 IS - 2/3 SP - 195 EP - 219 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Arribas, Julia A1 - Antonelli, Giulio A1 - Frazzoni, Leonardo A1 - Fuccio, Lorenzo A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - van der Sommen, Fons A1 - Ghatwary, Noha A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Coimbra, Miguel A1 - Renna, Francesco A1 - Bergman, Jacques J.G.H.M. A1 - Sharma, Prateek A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Hassan, Cesare A1 - Dinis-Ribeiro, Mario J. T1 - Standalone performance of artificial intelligence for upper GI neoplasia: a meta-analysis JF - Gut N2 - Objective: Artificial intelligence (AI) may reduce underdiagnosed or overlooked upper GI (UGI) neoplastic and preneoplastic conditions, due to subtle appearance and low disease prevalence. Only disease-specific AI performances have been reported, generating uncertainty on its clinical value. Design: We searched PubMed, Embase and Scopus until July 2020, for studies on the diagnostic performance of AI in detection and characterisation of UGI lesions. Primary outcomes were pooled diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of AI. Secondary outcomes were pooled positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values. We calculated pooled proportion rates (%), designed summary receiving operating characteristic curves with respective area under the curves (AUCs) and performed metaregression and sensitivity analysis. Results: Overall, 19 studies on detection of oesophageal squamous cell neoplasia (ESCN) or Barrett's esophagus-related neoplasia (BERN) or gastric adenocarcinoma (GCA) were included with 218, 445, 453 patients and 7976, 2340, 13 562 images, respectively. AI-sensitivity/specificity/PPV/NPV/positive likelihood ratio/negative likelihood ratio for UGI neoplasia detection were 90% (CI 85% to 94%)/89% (CI 85% to 92%)/87% (CI 83% to 91%)/91% (CI 87% to 94%)/8.2 (CI 5.7 to 11.7)/0.111 (CI 0.071 to 0.175), respectively, with an overall AUC of 0.95 (CI 0.93 to 0.97). No difference in AI performance across ESCN, BERN and GCA was found, AUC being 0.94 (CI 0.52 to 0.99), 0.96 (CI 0.95 to 0.98), 0.93 (CI 0.83 to 0.99), respectively. Overall, study quality was low, with high risk of selection bias. No significant publication bias was found. Conclusion: We found a high overall AI accuracy for the diagnosis of any neoplastic lesion of the UGI tract that was independent of the underlying condition. This may be expected to substantially reduce the miss rate of precancerous lesions and early cancer when implemented in clinical practice. KW - Artificial Intelligence Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2020-321922 VL - 70 IS - 8 SP - 1458 EP - 1468 PB - BMJ CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Rückert, Tobias A1 - Schuster, Laurin A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Manzeneder, Johannes A1 - Prinz, Friederike A1 - Mende, Matthias A1 - Steinbrück, Ingo A1 - Faiss, Siegbert A1 - Rauber, David A1 - Souza Jr., Luis Antonio de A1 - Papa, João Paulo A1 - Deprez, Pierre A1 - Oyama, Tsuneo A1 - Takahashi, Akiko A1 - Seewald, Stefan A1 - Sharma, Prateek A1 - Byrne, Michael F. A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Messmann, Helmut T1 - Endoscopic prediction of submucosal invasion in Barrett’s cancer with the use of Artificial Intelligence: A pilot Study JF - Endoscopy N2 - Background and aims: The accurate differentiation between T1a and T1b Barrett’s cancer has both therapeutic and prognostic implications but is challenging even for experienced physicians. We trained an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system on the basis of deep artificial neural networks (deep learning) to differentiate between T1a and T1b Barrett’s cancer white-light images. Methods: Endoscopic images from three tertiary care centres in Germany were collected retrospectively. A deep learning system was trained and tested using the principles of cross-validation. A total of 230 white-light endoscopic images (108 T1a and 122 T1b) was evaluated with the AI-system. For comparison, the images were also classified by experts specialized in endoscopic diagnosis and treatment of Barrett’s cancer. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, F1 and accuracy of the AI-system in the differentiation between T1a and T1b cancer lesions was 0.77, 0.64, 0.73 and 0.71, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the performance of the AI-system and that of human experts with sensitivity, specificity, F1 and accuracy of 0.63, 0.78, 0.67 and 0.70 respectively. Conclusion: This pilot study demonstrates the first multicenter application of an AI-based system in the prediction of submucosal invasion in endoscopic images of Barrett’s cancer. AI scored equal to international experts in the field, but more work is necessary to improve the system and apply it to video sequences and in a real-life setting. Nevertheless, the correct prediction of submucosal invasion in Barret´s cancer remains challenging for both experts and AI. KW - Maschinelles Lernen KW - Neuronales Netz KW - Speiseröhrenkrebs KW - Diagnose KW - Artificial Intelligence KW - Machine learning KW - Adenocarcinoma KW - Barrett’s cancer KW - submucosal invasion Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1311-8570 VL - 53 IS - 09 SP - 878 EP - 883 PB - Thieme CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Souza Jr., Luis Antonio de A1 - Passos, Leandro A. A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Papa, João Paulo T1 - Assisting Barrett's esophagus identification using endoscopic data augmentation based on Generative Adversarial Networks JF - Computers in Biology and Medicine N2 - Barrett's esophagus figured a swift rise in the number of cases in the past years. Although traditional diagnosis methods offered a vital role in early-stage treatment, they are generally time- and resource-consuming. In this context, computer-aided approaches for automatic diagnosis emerged in the literature since early detection is intrinsically related to remission probabilities. However, they still suffer from drawbacks because of the lack of available data for machine learning purposes, thus implying reduced recognition rates. This work introduces Generative Adversarial Networks to generate high-quality endoscopic images, thereby identifying Barrett's esophagus and adenocarcinoma more precisely. Further, Convolution Neural Networks are used for feature extraction and classification purposes. The proposed approach is validated over two datasets of endoscopic images, with the experiments conducted over the full and patch-split images. The application of Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks for the data augmentation step and LeNet-5 and AlexNet for the classification step allowed us to validate the proposed methodology over an extensive set of datasets (based on original and augmented sets), reaching results of 90% of accuracy for the patch-based approach and 85% for the image-based approach. Both results are based on augmented datasets and are statistically different from the ones obtained in the original datasets of the same kind. Moreover, the impact of data augmentation was evaluated in the context of image description and classification, and the results obtained using synthetic images outperformed the ones over the original datasets, as well as other recent approaches from the literature. Such results suggest promising insights related to the importance of proper data for the accurate classification concerning computer-assisted Barrett's esophagus and adenocarcinoma detection. KW - Maschinelles Lernen KW - Barrett's esophagus KW - Machine learning KW - Adenocarcinoma KW - Generative adversarial networks KW - Neuronales Netz KW - Adenocarcinom KW - Speiseröhrenkrebs KW - Diagnose Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2020.104029 VL - 126 IS - November PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Rauber, David A1 - Souza Jr., Luis Antonio de A1 - Papa, João Paulo A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Error-Correcting Mean-Teacher: Corrections instead of consistency-targets applied to semi-supervised medical image segmentation JF - Computers in Biology and Medicine N2 - Semantic segmentation is an essential task in medical imaging research. Many powerful deep-learning-based approaches can be employed for this problem, but they are dependent on the availability of an expansive labeled dataset. In this work, we augment such supervised segmentation models to be suitable for learning from unlabeled data. Our semi-supervised approach, termed Error-Correcting Mean-Teacher, uses an exponential moving average model like the original Mean Teacher but introduces our new paradigm of error correction. The original segmentation network is augmented to handle this secondary correction task. Both tasks build upon the core feature extraction layers of the model. For the correction task, features detected in the input image are fused with features detected in the predicted segmentation and further processed with task-specific decoder layers. The combination of image and segmentation features allows the model to correct present mistakes in the given input pair. The correction task is trained jointly on the labeled data. On unlabeled data, the exponential moving average of the original network corrects the student’s prediction. The combined outputs of the students’ prediction with the teachers’ correction form the basis for the semi-supervised update. We evaluate our method with the 2017 and 2018 Robotic Scene Segmentation data, the ISIC 2017 and the BraTS 2020 Challenges, a proprietary Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection dataset, Cityscapes, and Pascal VOC 2012. Additionally, we analyze the impact of the individual components and examine the behavior when the amount of labeled data varies, with experiments performed on two distinct segmentation architectures. Our method shows improvements in terms of the mean Intersection over Union over the supervised baseline and competing methods. Code is available at https://github.com/CloneRob/ECMT. KW - Semi-supervised Segmentation KW - Mean-Teacher KW - Pseudo-labels KW - Medical Imaging Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-57790 SN - 0010-4825 N1 - Corresponding author der OTH Regensburg: Robert Mendel VL - 154 IS - March PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maier, Andreas A1 - Deserno, Thomas M. A1 - Handels, Heinz A1 - Maier-Hein, Klaus H. A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Tolxdorff, Thomas T1 - IJCARS: BVM 2021 special issue JF - International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery N2 - The German workshop on medical image computing (BVM) has been held in different locations in Germany for more than 20 years. In terms of content, BVM focused on the computer-aided analysis of medical image data with a wide range of applications, e.g. in the area of imaging, diagnostics, operation planning, computer-aided intervention and visualization. During this time, there have been remarkable methodological developments and upheavals, on which the BVM community has worked intensively. The area of machine learning should be emphasized, which has led to significant improvements, especially for tasks of classification and segmentation, but increasingly also in image formation and registration. As a result, work in connection with deep learning now dominates the BVM. These developments have also contributed to the establishment of medical image processing at the interface between computer science and medicine as one of the key technologies for the digitization of the health system. In addition to the presentation of current research results, a central aspect of the BVM is primarily the promotion of young scientists from the diverse BVM community, covering not only Germany but also Austria, Switzerland, The Netherland and other European neighbors. The conference serves primarily doctoral students and postdocs, but also students with excellent bachelor and master theses as a platform to present their work, to enter into professional discourse with the community, and to establish networks with specialist colleagues. Despite the many conferences and congresses that are also relevant for medical image processing, the BVM has therefore lost none of its importance and attractiveness and has retained its permanent place in the annual conference rhythm. Building on this foundation, there are some innovations and changes this year. The BVM 2021 was organized for the first time at the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg (OTH Regensburg, a technical university of applied sciences). After Aachen, Berlin, Erlangen, Freiburg, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Lübeck, and Munich, Regensburg is not just a new venue. OTH Regensburg is the first representative of the universities of applied sciences (HAW) to organize the conference, which differs to universities, university hospitals, or research centers like Fraunhofer or Helmholtz. This also considers the further development of the research landscape in Germany, where HAWs increasingly contribute to applied research in addition to their focus on teaching. This development is also reflected in the contributions submitted to the BVM in recent years. At BVM 2021, which was held in a virtual format for the first time due to the Corona pandemic, an attractive and high-quality program was offered. Fortunately, the number of submissions increased significantly. Out of 97 submissions, 26 presentations, 51 posters and 5 software demonstrations were accepted via an anonymized reviewing process with three reviews each. The three best works have been awarded BVM prizes, selected by a separate committee. Based on these high-quality submissions, we are able to present another special issue in the International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (IJCARS). Out of the 97 submissions, the ones with the highest scores have been invited to submit an extended version of their paper to be presented in IJCARS. As a result, we are now able to present this special issue with seven excellent articles. Many submissions focus on machine learning in a medical context. KW - Medical Image Computing KW - Bildgebendes Verfahren KW - Medizin Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-21666 VL - 16 SP - 2067 EP - 2068 PB - Springer ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schulze, Elke A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Kerschbaum, Maximilian A1 - Seidel, Roman A1 - Lehmann, Lars A1 - Koller, Michael A1 - Pfingsten, Andrea T1 - KI-gestützte Untersuchung in der nicht-operativen Versorgung symptomgebender Erkrankungen des Kniegelenks – ein multiprofessionelles Konzept (KINEESIO) JF - MSK – Muskuloskelettale Physiotherapie N2 - Beschwerdebilder am Kniegelenk aufgrund muskuloskelettaler degenerativer oder verletzungsbedingter Erkrankungen sind häufig, nehmen im Alter zu und sind mit der steigenden Inanspruchnahme ärztlicher und therapeutischer Behandlungsmaßnahmen verbunden. Einer erfolgreichen Therapie gehen oft notwendige zeit- und ressourcenaufwendige Untersuchungen zur Erkennung und Differenzierung der patient*innenspezifischen Problematik voraus. Im Zusammenhang mit der nicht-operativen Versorgung des Kniegelenks hat ein sektorübergreifendes multiprofessionelles Forschungsteam ein Konzept entwickelt, um künstliche neuronale Netze so zu trainieren, dass sie bei der ärztlichen und physiotherapeutischen Untersuchung unterstützend Einsatz finden können. Denn gerade in der Erfassung und Auswertung umfassender Datenmengen liegen große Potenziale in der Künstlichen Intelligenz (KI) im Gesundheitswesen. Das Projekt KINEESIO trainiert und testet KI-gestützte Screening- Tools zur Untersuchung von Patient*innen mit Kniegelenkerkrankungen. Diese unterstützen die Abläufe zwischen Leistungserbringern und Patient*innen, tragen zu einer verbesserten Differenzierung individueller Beschwerdebilder bei und dienen Entscheidungsprozessen für eine adäquate Versorgung. Dadurch sollen Ressourcen im Gesundheitswesen geschont und eine qualitativ hochwertige Therapie ausreichend ermöglicht werden. N2 - Complaints regarding knee joints resulting from musculoskeletal degenerative or injury-related conditions are common, increase with age, and are associated with rising demand for treatments by physicians and therapists. The success of a therapeutic intervention is frequently contingent upon necessary time- and resource-intensive examinations to identify and differentiate the patient’s specific issues. In connection with non-surgical knee joint treatment, a crosssectoral, multidisciplinary research team has developed a concept for training artificial neural networks to assist in medical and physiotherapeutic examinations. After all, there is great potential for artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, particularly in collecting and analyzing large amounts of data. The KINEESIO project is training and testing screening tools supported by artificial intelligence for the assessment of patients with knee joint disorders. These tools support the workflows between healthcare providers and patients, improve the differentiation of individual symptoms and serve the decisionmaking process towards appropriate care. This should conserve healthcare resources and enable sufficient high-quality treatment. KW - Physiotherapie KW - Diagnose KW - Kniegelenk KW - Künstliche Intelligenz Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1055/a-2402-9982 SN - 2701-6986 VL - 28 IS - 5 SP - 312 EP - 321 PB - Thieme ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hartmann, Robin A1 - Weiherer, Maximilian A1 - Schiltz, Daniel A1 - Seitz, Stephan A1 - Lotter, Luisa A1 - Anker, Alexandra A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Prantl, Lukas A1 - Brébant, Vanessa T1 - A Novel Method of Outcome Assessment in Breast Reconstruction Surgery: Comparison of Autologous and Alloplastic Techniques Using Three-Dimensional Surface Imaging JF - Aesthetic Plastic Surgery N2 - Background Breast reconstruction is an important coping tool for patients undergoing a mastectomy. There are numerous surgical techniques in breast reconstruction surgery (BRS). Regardless of the technique used, creating a symmetric outcome is crucial for patients and plastic surgeons. Three-dimensional surface imaging enables surgeons and patients to assess the outcome’s symmetry in BRS. To discriminate between autologous and alloplastic techniques, we analyzed both techniques using objective optical computerized symmetry analysis. Software was developed that enables clinicians to assess optical breast symmetry using three-dimensional surface imaging. Methods Twenty-seven patients who had undergone autologous (n = 12) or alloplastic (n = 15) BRS received three-dimensional surface imaging. Anthropomorphic data were collected digitally using semiautomatic measurements and automatic measurements. Automatic measurements were taken using the newly developed software. To quantify symmetry, a Symmetry Index is proposed. Results Statistical analysis revealed that there is no dif- ference in the outcome symmetry between the two groups (t test for independent samples; p = 0.48, two-tailed). Conclusion This study’s findings provide a foundation for qualitative symmetry assessment in BRS using automatized digital anthropometry. In the present trial, no difference in the outcomes’ optical symmetry was detected between autologous and alloplastic approaches. KW - Breast reconstruction KW - Breast symmetry KW - Digital anthropometry KW - Mammoplastik KW - Dreidimensionale Bildverarbeitung KW - Autogene Transplantation KW - Alloplastik Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-020-01749-4 VL - 44 SP - 1980 EP - 1987 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hartmann, Robin A1 - Weiherer, Maximilian A1 - Schiltz, Daniel A1 - Baringer, Magnus A1 - Noisser, Vivien A1 - Hösl, Vanessa A1 - Eigenberger, Andreas A1 - Seitz, Stefan A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Prantl, Lukas A1 - Brébant, Vanessa T1 - New aspects in digital breast assessment: further refinement of a method for automated digital anthropometry JF - Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics N2 - Purpose: In this trial, we used a previously developed prototype software to assess aesthetic results after reconstructive surgery for congenital breast asymmetry using automated anthropometry. To prove the consensus between the manual and automatic digital measurements, we evaluated the software by comparing the manual and automatic measurements of 46 breasts. Methods: Twenty-three patients who underwent reconstructive surgery for congenital breast asymmetry at our institution were examined and underwent 3D surface imaging. Per patient, 14 manual and 14 computer-based anthropometric measurements were obtained according to a standardized protocol. Manual and automatic measurements, as well as the previously proposed Symmetry Index (SI), were compared. Results: The Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed no significant differences in six of the seven measurements between the automatic and manual assessments. The SI showed robust agreement between the automatic and manual methods. Conclusion: The present trial validates our method for digital anthropometry. Despite the discrepancy in one measurement, all remaining measurements, including the SI, showed high agreement between the manual and automatic methods. The proposed data bring us one step closer to the long-term goal of establishing robust instruments to evaluate the results of breast surgery. KW - digital anthropometry KW - reconstructive surgery KW - 3D surface imaging Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-020-05862-2 SN - 1432-0711 VL - 303 SP - 721 EP - 728 PB - Springer Nature CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graßmann, Felix A1 - Mengelkamp, Judith A1 - Brandl, Caroline A1 - Harsch, Sebastian A1 - Zimmermann, Martina E. A1 - Linkohr, Birgit A1 - Peters, Annette A1 - Heid, Iris M. A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Weber, Bernhard H. F. T1 - A Deep Learning Algorithm for Prediction of Age-Related Eye Disease Study Severity Scale for Age-Related Macular Degeneration from Color Fundus Photography JF - Ophtalmology N2 - Purpose Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common threat to vision. While classification of disease stages is critical to understanding disease risk and progression, several systems based on color fundus photographs are known. Most of these require in-depth and time-consuming analysis of fundus images. Herein, we present an automated computer-based classification algorithm. Design Algorithm development for AMD classification based on a large collection of color fundus images. Validation is performed on a cross-sectional, population-based study. Participants. We included 120 656 manually graded color fundus images from 3654 Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) participants. AREDS participants were >55 years of age, and non-AMD sight-threatening diseases were excluded at recruitment. In addition, performance of our algorithm was evaluated in 5555 fundus images from the population-based Kooperative Gesundheitsforschung in der Region Augsburg (KORA; Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg) study. Methods. We defined 13 classes (9 AREDS steps, 3 late AMD stages, and 1 for ungradable images) and trained several convolution deep learning architectures. An ensemble of network architectures improved prediction accuracy. An independent dataset was used to evaluate the performance of our algorithm in a population-based study. Main Outcome Measures. κ Statistics and accuracy to evaluate the concordance between predicted and expert human grader classification. Results. A network ensemble of 6 different neural net architectures predicted the 13 classes in the AREDS test set with a quadratic weighted κ of 92% (95% confidence interval, 89%–92%) and an overall accuracy of 63.3%. In the independent KORA dataset, images wrongly classified as AMD were mainly the result of a macular reflex observed in young individuals. By restricting the KORA analysis to individuals >55 years of age and prior exclusion of other retinopathies, the weighted and unweighted κ increased to 50% and 63%, respectively. Importantly, the algorithm detected 84.2% of all fundus images with definite signs of early or late AMD. Overall, 94.3% of healthy fundus images were classified correctly. Conclusions Our deep learning algoritm revealed a weighted κ outperforming human graders in the AREDS study and is suitable to classify AMD fundus images in other datasets using individuals >55 years of age. KW - Senile Makuladegeneration KW - Krankheitsverlauf KW - Mustererkennung KW - Maschinelles Lernen Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2018.02.037 N1 - Corresponding authors: Bernhard H. F. Weber, University of Regensburg, and Christoph Palm VL - 125 IS - 9 SP - 1410 EP - 1420 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hartmann, Robin A1 - Weiherer, Maximilian A1 - Nieberle, Felix A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Brébant, Vanessa A1 - Prantl, Lukas A1 - Lamby, Philipp A1 - Reichert, Torsten E. A1 - Taxis, Jürgen A1 - Ettl, Tobias T1 - Evaluating smartphone-based 3D imaging techniques for clinical application in oral and maxillofacial surgery: A comparative study with the vectra M5 JF - Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery N2 - PURPOSE This study aimed to clarify the applicability of smartphone-based three-dimensional (3D) surface imaging for clinical use in oral and maxillofacial surgery, comparing two smartphone-based approaches to the gold standard. METHODS Facial surface models (SMs) were generated for 30 volunteers (15 men, 15 women) using the Vectra M5 (Canfield Scientific, USA), the TrueDepth camera of the iPhone 14 Pro (Apple Inc., USA), and the iPhone 14 Pro with photogrammetry. Smartphone-based SMs were superimposed onto Vectra-based SMs. Linear measurements and volumetric evaluations were performed to evaluate surface-to-surface deviation. To assess inter-observer reliability, all measurements were performed independently by a second observer. Statistical analyses included Bland-Altman analyses, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test for paired samples, and Intraclass correlation coefficients. RESULTS Photogrammetry-based SMs exhibited an overall landmark-to-landmark deviation of M = 0.8 mm (SD =  ± 0.58 mm, n = 450), while TrueDepth-based SMs displayed a deviation of M = 1.1 mm (SD =  ± 0.72 mm, n = 450). The mean volumetric difference for photogrammetry-based SMs was M = 1.8 cc (SD =  ± 2.12 cc, n = 90), and M = 3.1 cc (SD =  ± 2.64 cc, n = 90) for TrueDepth-based SMs. When comparing the two approaches, most landmark-to-landmark measurements demonstrated 95% Bland-Altman limits of agreement (LoA) of ≤ 2 mm. Volumetric measurements revealed LoA > 2 cc. Photogrammetry-based measurements demonstrated higher inter-observer reliability for overall landmark-to-landmark deviation. CONCLUSION Both approaches for smartphone-based 3D surface imaging exhibit potential in capturing the face. Photogrammetry-based SMs demonstrated superior alignment and volumetric accuracy with Vectra-based SMs than TrueDepth-based SMs. KW - Three-dimensional Surface Imaging KW - Smartphone-based Surface Imaging TrueDepth Stereophotogrammetry Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery KW - TrueDepth KW - Stereophotogrammetry KW - Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10006-024-01322-2 VL - 29 PB - Springer Nature ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maier, Johannes A1 - Perret, Jerome A1 - Simon, Martina A1 - Schmitt-Rüth, Stephanie A1 - Wittenberg, Thomas A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Force-feedback assisted and virtual fixtures based K-wire drilling simulation JF - Computers in Biology and Medicine N2 - One common method to fix fractures of the human hand after an accident is an osteosynthesis with Kirschner wires (K-wires) to stabilize the bone fragments. The insertion of K-wires is a delicate minimally invasive surgery, because surgeons operate almost without a sight. Since realistic training methods are time consuming, costly and insufficient, a virtual-reality (VR) based training system for the placement of K-wires was developed. As part of this, the current work deals with the real-time bone drilling simulation using a haptic force-feedback device. To simulate the drilling, we introduce a virtual fixture based force-feedback drilling approach. By decomposition of the drilling task into individual phases, each phase can be handled individually to perfectly control the drilling procedure. We report about the related finite state machine (FSM), describe the haptic feedback of each state and explain, how to avoid jerking of the haptic force-feedback during state transition. The usage of the virtual fixture approach results in a good haptic performance and a stable drilling behavior. This was confirmed by 26 expert surgeons, who evaluated the virtual drilling on the simulator and rated it as very realistic. To make the system even more convincing, we determined real drilling feed rates through experimental pig bone drilling and transferred them to our system. Due to a constant simulation thread we can guarantee a precise drilling motion. Virtual fixtures based force-feedback calculation is able to simulate force-feedback assisted bone drilling with high quality and, thus, will have a great potential in developing medical applications. KW - Handchirurgie KW - Osteosynthese KW - Operationstechnik KW - Lernprogramm KW - Virtuelle Realität KW - Medical training system KW - Virtual fixtures KW - Virtual reality KW - Force-feedback haptic KW - Minimally invasive hand surgery KW - K-wire drilling Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2019.103473 N1 - Corresponding author: Christoph Palm VL - 114 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Römmele, Christoph A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Barrett, Caroline A1 - Kiesl, Hans A1 - Rauber, David A1 - Rückert, Tobias A1 - Kraus, Lisa A1 - Heinkele, Jakob A1 - Dhillon, Christine A1 - Grosser, Bianca A1 - Prinz, Friederike A1 - Wanzl, Julia A1 - Fleischmann, Carola A1 - Nagl, Sandra A1 - Schnoy, Elisabeth A1 - Schlottmann, Jakob A1 - Dellon, Evan S. A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna T1 - An artificial intelligence algorithm is highly accurate for detecting endoscopic features of eosinophilic esophagitis JF - Scientific Reports N2 - The endoscopic features associated with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) may be missed during routine endoscopy. We aimed to develop and evaluate an Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm for detecting and quantifying the endoscopic features of EoE in white light images, supplemented by the EoE Endoscopic Reference Score (EREFS). An AI algorithm (AI-EoE) was constructed and trained to differentiate between EoE and normal esophagus using endoscopic white light images extracted from the database of the University Hospital Augsburg. In addition to binary classification, a second algorithm was trained with specific auxiliary branches for each EREFS feature (AI-EoE-EREFS). The AI algorithms were evaluated on an external data set from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC), and compared with the performance of human endoscopists with varying levels of experience. The overall sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of AI-EoE were 0.93 for all measures, while the AUC was 0.986. With additional auxiliary branches for the EREFS categories, the AI algorithm (AI-EoEEREFS) performance improved to 0.96, 0.94, 0.95, and 0.992 for sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and AUC, respectively. AI-EoE and AI-EoE-EREFS performed significantly better than endoscopy beginners and senior fellows on the same set of images. An AI algorithm can be trained to detect and quantify endoscopic features of EoE with excellent performance scores. The addition of the EREFS criteria improved the performance of the AI algorithm, which performed significantly better than endoscopists with a lower or medium experience level. KW - Artificial Intelligence KW - Smart Endoscopy KW - eosinophilic esophagitis Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-46928 VL - 12 PB - Nature Portfolio CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Roser, David A1 - Meinikheim, Michael A1 - Muzalyova, Anna A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Nagl, Sandra A1 - Scheppach, Markus W. A1 - Römmele, Christoph A1 - Schnoy, Elisabeth A1 - Parsa, Nasim A1 - Byrne, Michael F. A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna T1 - Artificial intelligence-assisted endoscopy and examiner confidence : a study on human–artificial intelligence interaction in Barrett's Esophagus (With Video) JF - DEN Open N2 - Objective Despite high stand-alone performance, studies demonstrate that artificial intelligence (AI)-supported endoscopic diagnostics often fall short in clinical applications due to human-AI interaction factors. This video-based trial on Barrett's esophagus aimed to investigate how examiner behavior, their levels of confidence, and system usability influence the diagnostic outcomes of AI-assisted endoscopy. Methods The present analysis employed data from a multicenter randomized controlled tandem video trial involving 22 endoscopists with varying degrees of expertise. Participants were tasked with evaluating a set of 96 endoscopic videos of Barrett's esophagus in two distinct rounds, with and without AI assistance. Diagnostic confidence levels were recorded, and decision changes were categorized according to the AI prediction. Additional surveys assessed user experience and system usability ratings. Results AI assistance significantly increased examiner confidence levels (p < 0.001) and accuracy. Withdrawing AI assistance decreased confidence (p < 0.001), but not accuracy. Experts consistently reported higher confidence than non-experts (p < 0.001), regardless of performance. Despite improved confidence, correct AI guidance was disregarded in 16% of all cases, and 9% of initially correct diagnoses were changed to incorrect ones. Overreliance on AI, algorithm aversion, and uncertainty in AI predictions were identified as key factors influencing outcomes. The System Usability Scale questionnaire scores indicated good to excellent usability, with non-experts scoring 73.5 and experts 85.6. Conclusions Our findings highlight the pivotal function of examiner behavior in AI-assisted endoscopy. To fully realize the benefits of AI, implementing explainable AI, improving user interfaces, and providing targeted training are essential. Addressing these factors could enhance diagnostic accuracy and confidence in clinical practice. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/deo2.70150 VL - 6 IS - 1 PB - Wiley ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheppach, Markus W. A1 - Rauber, David A1 - Stallhofer, Johannes A1 - Muzalyova, Anna A1 - Otten, Vera A1 - Manzeneder, Carolin A1 - Schwamberger, Tanja A1 - Wanzl, Julia A1 - Schlottmann, Jakob A1 - Tadic, Vidan A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Schnoy, Elisabeth A1 - Römmele, Christoph A1 - Fleischmann, Carola A1 - Meinikheim, Michael A1 - Miller, Silvia A1 - Märkl, Bruno A1 - Stallmach, Andreas A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna T1 - Detection of duodenal villous atrophy on endoscopic images using a deep learning algorithm JF - Gastrointestinal Endoscopy N2 - Background and aims Celiac disease with its endoscopic manifestation of villous atrophy is underdiagnosed worldwide. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) for the macroscopic detection of villous atrophy at routine esophagogastroduodenoscopy may improve diagnostic performance. Methods A dataset of 858 endoscopic images of 182 patients with villous atrophy and 846 images from 323 patients with normal duodenal mucosa was collected and used to train a ResNet 18 deep learning model to detect villous atrophy. An external data set was used to test the algorithm, in addition to six fellows and four board certified gastroenterologists. Fellows could consult the AI algorithm’s result during the test. From their consultation distribution, a stratification of test images into “easy” and “difficult” was performed and used for classified performance measurement. Results External validation of the AI algorithm yielded values of 90 %, 76 %, and 84 % for sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, respectively. Fellows scored values of 63 %, 72 % and 67 %, while the corresponding values in experts were 72 %, 69 % and 71 %, respectively. AI consultation significantly improved all trainee performance statistics. While fellows and experts showed significantly lower performance for “difficult” images, the performance of the AI algorithm was stable. Conclusion In this study, an AI algorithm outperformed endoscopy fellows and experts in the detection of villous atrophy on endoscopic still images. AI decision support significantly improved the performance of non-expert endoscopists. The stable performance on “difficult” images suggests a further positive add-on effect in challenging cases. KW - celiac disease KW - villous atrophy KW - endoscopy detection KW - artificial intelligence Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gie.2023.01.006 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheppach, Markus W. A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Muzalyova, Anna A1 - Rauber, David A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Nagl, Sandra A1 - Römmele, Christoph A1 - Yip, Hon Chi A1 - Lau, Louis Ho Shing A1 - Gölder, Stefan Karl A1 - Schmidt, Arthur A1 - Kouladouros, Konstantinos A1 - Abdelhafez, Mohamed A1 - Walter, Benjamin M. A1 - Meinikheim, Michael A1 - Chiu, Philip Wai Yan A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna T1 - Artificial intelligence improves submucosal vessel detection during third space endoscopy JF - Endoscopy N2 - Background and study aims: While artificial intelligence (AI) shows high potential in decision support for diagnostic gastrointestinal endoscopy, its role in therapeutic endoscopy remains unclear. Third space endoscopic procedures pose the risk of intraprocedural bleeding. Therefore, we aimed to develop an AI algorithm for intraprocedural blood vessel detection. Patients and Methods: Using a test dataset with 101 standardized video clips containing 200 predefined submucosal blood vessels, 19 endoscopists were evaluated for the vessel detection rate (VDR) and time (VDT) with and without support of an AI algorithm. Test subjects were grouped according to experience in ESD. Results: With AI support, endoscopists VDR increased from 56.4% [CI 54.1–58.6] to 72.4% [CI 70.3–74.4]. Endoscopists‘ VDT dropped from 6.7sec [CI 6.2-7.1] to 5.2sec [CI 4.8-5.7]. False positive (FP) readings appeared in 4.5% of frames and were marked significantly shorter than true positives (6.0sec [CI 5.28-6.70] vs. 0.7sec [CI 0.55-0.87]). Conclusions: AI improved the vessel detection rate and time of endoscopists during third space endoscopy. While these data need to be corroborated by clinical trials, AI may prove to be an invaluable tool for the improvement of endoscopic interventions. KW - Artificial Intelligence KW - Third Space Endoscopy Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1055/a-2534-1164 PB - Thieme CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rückert, Tobias A1 - Rückert, Daniel A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Methods and datasets for segmentation of minimally invasive surgical instruments in endoscopic images and videos: A review of the state of the art JF - Computers in Biology and Medicine N2 - In the field of computer- and robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery, enormous progress has been made in recent years based on the recognition of surgical instruments in endoscopic images and videos. In particular, the determination of the position and type of instruments is of great interest. Current work involves both spatial and temporal information, with the idea that predicting the movement of surgical tools over time may improve the quality of the final segmentations. The provision of publicly available datasets has recently encouraged the development of new methods, mainly based on deep learning. In this review, we identify and characterize datasets used for method development and evaluation and quantify their frequency of use in the literature. We further present an overview of the current state of research regarding the segmentation and tracking of minimally invasive surgical instruments in endoscopic images and videos. The paper focuses on methods that work purely visually, without markers of any kind attached to the instruments, considering both single-frame semantic and instance segmentation approaches, as well as those that incorporate temporal information. The publications analyzed were identified through the platforms Google Scholar, Web of Science, and PubMed. The search terms used were “instrument segmentation”, “instrument tracking”, “surgical tool segmentation”, and “surgical tool tracking”, resulting in a total of 741 articles published between 01/2015 and 07/2023, of which 123 were included using systematic selection criteria. A discussion of the reviewed literature is provided, highlighting existing shortcomings and emphasizing the available potential for future developments. KW - Deep Learning KW - Minimal-invasive Chirurgie KW - Bildsegmentierung KW - Surgical instrument segmentation KW - Surgical instrument tracking KW - Spatio-temporal information KW - Endoscopic surgery KW - Robot-assisted surgery Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-69830 N1 - Corresponding author: Tobias Rückert N1 - Corrigendum unter: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-oth-regensburg/frontdoor/index/index/docId/7033 VL - 169 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ruewe, Marc A1 - Eigenberger, Andreas A1 - Klein, Silvan A1 - von Riedheim, Antonia A1 - Gugg, Christine A1 - Prantl, Lukas A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Weiherer, Maximilian A1 - Zeman, Florian A1 - Anker, Alexandra T1 - Precise Monitoring of Returning Sensation in Digital Nerve Lesions by 3-D Imaging: A Proof-of-Concept Study JF - Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery N2 - Digital nerve lesions result in a loss of tactile sensation reflected by an anesthetic area (AA) at the radial or ulnar aspect of the respective digit. Yet, available tools to monitor the recovery of tactile sense have been criticized for their lack of validity. However, the precise quantification of AA dynamics by three-dimensional (3-D) imaging could serve as an accurate surrogate to monitor recovery following digital nerve repair. For validation, AAs were marked on digits of healthy volunteers to simulate the AA of an impaired cutaneous innervation. Three dimensional models were composed from raw images that had been acquired with a 3-D camera (Vectra H2) to precisely quantify relative AA for each digit (3-D models, n= 80). Operator properties varied regarding individual experience in 3-D imaging and image processing. Additionally, the concept was applied in a clinical case study. Images taken by experienced photographers were rated better quality (p< 0.001) and needed less processing time (p= 0.020). Quantification of the relative AA was neither altered significantly by experience levels of the photographer (p= 0.425) nor the image assembler (p= 0.749). The proposed concept allows precise and reliable surface quantification of digits and can be performed consistently without relevant distortion by lack of examiner experience. Routine 3-D imaging of the AA has the great potential to provide visual evidence of various returning states of sensation and to convert sensory nerve recovery into a metric variable with high responsiveness to temporal progress. KW - 3D imaging Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0000000000010456 SN - 1529-4242 VL - 152 IS - 4 SP - 670e EP - 674e PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins CY - Philadelphia, Pa. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Huber, Michaela A1 - Schlosser, Daniela A1 - Stenzel, Susanne A1 - Maier, Johannes A1 - Pattappa, Girish A1 - Kujat, Richard A1 - Striegl, Birgit A1 - Docheva, Denitsa T1 - Quantitative Analysis of Surface Contouring with Pulsed Bipolar Radiofrequency on Thin Chondromalacic Cartilage JF - BioMed Research International N2 - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of surface contouring of chondromalacic cartilage by bipolar radio frequency energy using different treatment patterns in an animal model, as well as examining the impact of the treatment onto chondrocyte viability by two different methods. Our experiments were conducted on 36 fresh osteochondral sections from the tibia plateau of slaughtered 6-month-old pigs, where the thickness of the cartilage is similar to that of human wrist cartilage. An area of 1 cm(2) was first treated with emery paper to simulate the chondromalacic cartilage. Then, the treatment with RFE followed in 6 different patterns. The osteochondral sections were assessed for cellular viability (live/dead assay, caspase (cell apoptosis marker) staining, and quantitative analysed images obtained by fluorescent microscopy). For a quantitative characterization of none or treated cartilage surfaces, various roughness parameters were measured using confocal laser scanning microscopy (Olympus LEXT OLS 4000 3D). To describe the roughness, the Root-Mean-Square parameter (Sq) was calculated. A smoothing effect of the cartilage surface was detectable upon each pattern of RFE treatment. The Sq for native cartilage was Sq=3.8 +/- 1.1 mu m. The best smoothing pattern was seen for two RFE passes and a 2-second pulsed mode (B2p2) with an Sq=27.3 +/- 4.9 mu m. However, with increased smoothing, an augmentation in chondrocyte death up to 95% was detected. Using bipolar RFE treatment in arthroscopy for small joints like the wrist or MCP joints should be used with caution. In the case of chondroplasty, there is a high chance to destroy the joint cartilage. KW - CHONDROCYTE DEATH KW - energy KW - HUMAN ARTICULAR-CARTILAGE KW - MONOPOLAR KW - THERMAL CHONDROPLASTY Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/1242086 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - HINDAWI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hutterer, Markus A1 - Hattingen, Elke A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Proescholdt, Martin Andreas A1 - Hau, Peter T1 - Current standards and new concepts in MRI and PET response assessment of antiangiogenic therapies in high-grade glioma patients JF - Neuro-Oncology N2 - Despite multimodal treatment, the prognosis of high-grade gliomas is grim. As tumor growth is critically dependent on new blood vessel formation, antiangiogenic treatment approaches offer an innovative treatment strategy. Bevacizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody, has been in the spotlight of antiangiogenic approaches for several years. Currently, MRI including contrast-enhanced T1-weighted and T2/fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images is routinely used to evaluate antiangiogenic treatment response (Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology criteria). However, by restoring the blood–brain barrier, bevacizumab may reduce T1 contrast enhancement and T2/FLAIR hyperintensity, thereby obscuring the imaging-based detection of progression. The aim of this review is to highlight the recent role of imaging biomarkers from MR and PET imaging on measurement of disease progression and treatment effectiveness in antiangiogenic therapies. Based on the reviewed studies, multimodal imaging combining standard MRI with new physiological MRI techniques and metabolic PET imaging, in particular amino acid tracers, may have the ability to detect antiangiogenic drug susceptibility or resistance prior to morphological changes. As advances occur in the development of therapies that target specific biochemical or molecular pathways and alter tumor physiology in potentially predictable ways, the validation of physiological and metabolic imaging biomarkers will become increasingly important in the near future. KW - High-grade glioma KW - Antiangiogenic treatment KW - MRI KW - PET KW - Multimodal response assessment KW - Gliom KW - Antiangiogenese KW - Bildgebendes Verfahren KW - Biomarker Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/nou322 VL - 17 IS - 6 SP - 784 EP - 800 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Messmann, Helmut T1 - Barrett esophagus: What to expect from Artificial Intelligence? JF - Best Practice & Research Clinical Gastroenterology N2 - The evaluation and assessment of Barrett’s esophagus is challenging for both expert and nonexpert endoscopists. However, the early diagnosis of cancer in Barrett’s esophagus is crucial for its prognosis, and could save costs. Pre-clinical and clinical studies on the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Barrett’s esophagus have shown promising results. In this review, we focus on the current challenges and future perspectives of implementing AI systems in the management of patients with Barrett’s esophagus. KW - Deep Learning KW - Künstliche Intelligenz KW - Computerunterstützte Medizin KW - Barrett KW - Adenocarcinoma KW - Artificial intelligence KW - Deep learning KW - Convolutional neural networks Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpg.2021.101726 SN - 1521-6918 VL - 52-53 IS - June-August PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maier, Andreas A1 - Deserno, Thomas M. A1 - Handels, Heinz A1 - Maier-Hein, Klaus H. A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Tolxdorff, Thomas T1 - Guest editorial of the IJCARS - BVM 2018 special issue JF - International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery KW - Medical Image Computing Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-018-01902-0 VL - 14 SP - 1 EP - 2 PB - Springer ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Passos, Leandro A. A1 - Souza Jr., Luis Antonio de A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Papa, João Paulo T1 - Barrett's esophagus analysis using infinity Restricted Boltzmann Machines JF - Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation N2 - The number of patients with Barret’s esophagus (BE) has increased in the last decades. Considering the dangerousness of the disease and its evolution to adenocarcinoma, an early diagnosis of BE may provide a high probability of cancer remission. However, limitations regarding traditional methods of detection and management of BE demand alternative solutions. As such, computer-aided tools have been recently used to assist in this problem, but the challenge still persists. To manage the problem, we introduce the infinity Restricted Boltzmann Machines (iRBMs) to the task of automatic identification of Barrett’s esophagus from endoscopic images of the lower esophagus. Moreover, since iRBM requires a proper selection of its meta-parameters, we also present a discriminative iRBM fine-tuning using six meta-heuristic optimization techniques. We showed that iRBMs are suitable for the context since it provides competitive results, as well as the meta-heuristic techniques showed to be appropriate for such task. KW - Speiseröhrenkrankheit KW - Diagnose KW - Boltzmann-Maschine KW - Barrett’s esophagus KW - Infinity Restricted Boltzmann Machines KW - Meta-heuristics KW - Deep learning KW - Metaheuristik KW - Maschinelles Lernen Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvcir.2019.01.043 VL - 59 SP - 475 EP - 485 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maerkl, Raphaela A1 - Rueckert, Tobias A1 - Rauber, David A1 - Gutbrod, Max A1 - Weber Nunes, Danilo A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Enhancing generalization in zero-shot multi-label endoscopic instrument classification JF - International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery N2 - Purpose Recognizing previously unseen classes with neural networks is a significant challenge due to their limited generalization capabilities. This issue is particularly critical in safety-critical domains such as medical applications, where accurate classification is essential for reliability and patient safety. Zero-shot learning methods address this challenge by utilizing additional semantic data, with their performance relying heavily on the quality of the generated embeddings. Methods This work investigates the use of full descriptive sentences, generated by a Sentence-BERT model, as class representations, compared to simpler category-based word embeddings derived from a BERT model. Additionally, the impact of z-score normalization as a post-processing step on these embeddings is explored. The proposed approach is evaluated on a multi-label generalized zero-shot learning task, focusing on the recognition of surgical instruments in endoscopic images from minimally invasive cholecystectomies. Results The results demonstrate that combining sentence embeddings and z-score normalization significantly improves model performance. For unseen classes, the AUROC improves from 43.9% to 64.9%, and the multi-label accuracy from 26.1% to 79.5%. Overall performance measured across both seen and unseen classes improves from 49.3% to 64.9% in AUROC and from 37.3% to 65.1% in multi-label accuracy, highlighting the effectiveness of our approach. Conclusion These findings demonstrate that sentence embeddings and z-score normalization can substantially enhance the generalization performance of zero-shot learning models. However, as the study is based on a single dataset, future work should validate the method across diverse datasets and application domains to establish its robustness and broader applicability. KW - Generalized zero-shot learning KW - Sentence embeddings KW - Z-score normalization KW - Multi-label classification KW - Surgical instruments Y1 - 2025 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-85674 N1 - Corresponding author der OTH Regensburg: Raphaela Maerkl VL - 20 SP - 1577 EP - 1587 PB - Springer Nature ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiherer, Maximilian A1 - Eigenberger, Andreas A1 - Egger, Bernhard A1 - Brébant, Vanessa A1 - Prantl, Lukas A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Learning the shape of female breasts: an open-access 3D statistical shape model of the female breast built from 110 breast scans JF - The Visual Computer N2 - We present the Regensburg Breast Shape Model (RBSM)—a 3D statistical shape model of the female breast built from 110 breast scans acquired in a standing position, and the first publicly available. Together with the model, a fully automated, pairwise surface registration pipeline used to establish dense correspondence among 3D breast scans is introduced. Our method is computationally efficient and requires only four landmarks to guide the registration process. A major challenge when modeling female breasts from surface-only 3D breast scans is the non-separability of breast and thorax. In order to weaken the strong coupling between breast and surrounding areas, we propose to minimize the variance outside the breast region as much as possible. To achieve this goal, a novel concept called breast probability masks (BPMs) is introduced. A BPM assigns probabilities to each point of a 3D breast scan, telling how likely it is that a particular point belongs to the breast area. During registration, we use BPMs to align the template to the target as accurately as possible inside the breast region and only roughly outside. This simple yet effective strategy significantly reduces the unwanted variance outside the breast region, leading to better statistical shape models in which breast shapes are quite well decoupled from the thorax. The RBSM is thus able to produce a variety of different breast shapes as independently as possible from the shape of the thorax. Our systematic experimental evaluation reveals a generalization ability of 0.17 mm and a specificity of 2.8 mm. To underline the expressiveness of the proposed model, we finally demonstrate in two showcase applications how the RBSM can be used for surgical outcome simulation and the prediction of a missing breast from the remaining one. Our model is available at https://www.rbsm.re-mic.de/. KW - Statistical shape model KW - Non-rigid surface registration KW - Breast imaging KW - Surgical outcome simulation KW - Breast reconstruction surgery Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-30506 N1 - Corresponding author: Christoph Palm N1 - Zugehörige arXiv-Publikation: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-oth-regensburg/frontdoor/index/index/docId/2023 VL - 39 IS - 4 SP - 1597 EP - 1616 PB - Springer Nature ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brébant, Vanessa A1 - Weiherer, Maximilian A1 - Noisser, Vivien A1 - Seitz, Stephan A1 - Prantl, Lukas A1 - Eigenberger, Andreas T1 - Implants Versus Lipograft: Analysis of Long-Term Results Following Congenital Breast Asymmetry Correction JF - Aesthetic Plastic Surgery N2 - Aims Congenital breast asymmetry represents a particular challenge to the classic techniques of plastic surgery given the young age of patients at presentation. This study reviews and compares the long-term results of traditional breast augmentation using silicone implants and the more innovative technique of lipografting. Methods To achieve this, we not only captured subjective parameters such as satisfaction with outcome and symmetry, but also objective parameters including breast vol-ume and anthropometric measurements. The objective examination was performed manually and by using the Vectra H2 photogrammetry scanning system. Results Differences between patients undergoing either implant augmentation or lipograft were revealed not to be significant with respect to patient satisfaction with surgical outcome (p= 0.55) and symmetry (p= 0.69). Furthermore, a breast symmetry of 93 % was reported in both groups. Likewise, no statistically significant volume difference between the left and right breasts was observed in both groups (p\0.41). However, lipograft patients needed on average 2.9 procedures to achieve the desired result, compared with 1.3 for implant augmentation. In contrast, patients treated with implant augmentation may require anumber of implant changes during their lifetime. Conclusion Both methods may be considered for patients presenting with congenital breast asymmetry. KW - Congenital Breast Asymmetry KW - 3D volumetry KW - Autologous fat injections KW - Three-dimensional imaging KW - Lipograft Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-32404 N1 - Corresponding author der OTH Regensburg: Vanessa Brébant VL - 46 SP - 2228 EP - 2236 PB - Springer Nature ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maier, Johannes A1 - Weiherer, Maximilian A1 - Huber, Michaela A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Imitating human soft tissue on basis of a dual-material 3D print using a support-filled metamaterial to provide bimanual haptic for a hand surgery training system JF - Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery N2 - Background: Currently, it is common practice to use three-dimensional (3D) printers not only for rapid prototyping in the industry, but also in the medical area to create medical applications for training inexperienced surgeons. In a clinical training simulator for minimally invasive bone drilling to fix hand fractures with Kirschner-wires (K-wires), a 3D-printed hand phantom must not only be geometrically but also haptically correct. Due to a limited view during an operation, surgeons need to perfectly localize underlying risk structures only by feeling of specific bony protrusions of the human hand. Methods: The goal of this experiment is to imitate human soft tissue with its haptic and elasticity for a realistic hand phantom fabrication, using only a dual-material 3D printer and support-material-filled metamaterial between skin and bone. We present our workflow to generate lattice structures between hard bone and soft skin with iterative cube edge (CE) or cube face (CF) unit cells. Cuboid and finger shaped sample prints with and without inner hard bone in different lattice thickness are constructed and 3D printed. Results: The most elastic available rubber-like material is too firm to imitate soft tissue. By reducing the amount of rubber in the inner volume through support material (SUP), objects become significantly softer. Without metamaterial, after disintegration, the SUP can be shifted through the volume and thus the body loses its original shape. Although the CE design increases the elasticity, it cannot restore the fabric form. In contrast to CE, the CF design increases not only the elasticity but also guarantees a local limitation of the SUP. Therefore, the body retains its shape and internal bones remain in its intended place. Various unit cell sizes, lattice thickening and skin thickness regulate the rubber material and SUP ratio. Test prints with higher SUP and lower rubber material percentage appear softer and vice versa. This was confirmed by an expert surgeon evaluation. Subjects adjudged pure rubber-like material as too firm and samples only filled with SUP or lattice structure in CE design as not suitable for imitating tissue. 3D-printed finger samples in CF design were rated as realistic compared to the haptic of human tissue with a good palpable bone structure. Conclusions: We developed a new dual-material 3D print technique to imitate soft tissue of the human hand with its haptic properties. Blowy SUP is trapped within a lattice structure to soften rubber-like 3D print material, which makes it possible to reproduce a realistic replica of human hand soft tissue. KW - Dual-material 3D printing KW - Hand surgery training KW - Metamaterial KW - Support material KW - Tissue-imitating hand phantom KW - Handchirurgie KW - 3D-Druck KW - Biomaterial KW - Lernprogramm Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-979 N1 - Corresponding author: Christoph Palm VL - 9 IS - 1 SP - 30 EP - 42 PB - AME Publishing Company ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maier, Johannes A1 - Weiherer, Maximilian A1 - Huber, Michaela A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Optically tracked and 3D printed haptic phantom hand for surgical training system JF - Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery N2 - Background: For surgical fixation of bone fractures of the human hand, so-called Kirschner-wires (K-wires) are drilled through bone fragments. Due to the minimally invasive drilling procedures without a view of risk structures like vessels and nerves, a thorough training of young surgeons is necessary. For the development of a virtual reality (VR) based training system, a three-dimensional (3D) printed phantom hand is required. To ensure an intuitive operation, this phantom hand has to be realistic in both, its position relative to the driller as well as in its haptic features. The softest 3D printing material available on the market, however, is too hard to imitate human soft tissue. Therefore, a support-material (SUP) filled metamaterial is used to soften the raw material. Realistic haptic features are important to palpate protrusions of the bone to determine the drilling starting point and angle. An optical real-time tracking is used to transfer position and rotation to the training system. Methods: A metamaterial already developed in previous work is further improved by use of a new unit cell. Thus, the amount of SUP within the volume can be increased and the tissue is softened further. In addition, the human anatomy is transferred to the entire hand model. A subcutaneous fat layer and penetration of air through pores into the volume simulate shiftability of skin layers. For optical tracking, a rotationally symmetrical marker attached to the phantom hand with corresponding reference marker is developed. In order to ensure trouble-free position transmission, various types of marker point applications are tested. Results: Several cuboid and forearm sample prints lead to a final 30 centimeter long hand model. The whole haptic phantom could be printed faultless within about 17 hours. The metamaterial consisting of the new unit cell results in an increased SUP share of 4.32%. Validated by an expert surgeon study, this allows in combination with a displacement of the uppermost skin layer a good palpability of the bones. Tracking of the hand marker in dodecahedron design works trouble-free in conjunction with a reference marker attached to the worktop of the training system. Conclusions: In this work, an optically tracked and haptically correct phantom hand was developed using dual-material 3D printing, which can be easily integrated into a surgical training system. KW - Handchirurgie KW - 3D-Druck KW - Lernprogramm KW - Zielverfolgung KW - HaptiVisT KW - Dual-material 3D printing KW - hand surgery training KW - metamaterial KW - tissue imitating phantom hand Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.21037/qims.2019.12.03 N1 - Corresponding author: Christoph Palm VL - 10 IS - 02 SP - 340 EP - 455 PB - AME Publishing Company CY - Hong Kong, China ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Noisser, Vivien A1 - Eigenberger, Andreas A1 - Weiherer, Maximilian A1 - Seitz, Stephan A1 - Prantl, Lukas A1 - Brébant, Vanessa T1 - Surgery of congenital breast asymmetry - which objective parameter influences the subjective satisfaction with long-term results JF - Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics N2 - Purpose Congenital breast asymmetry is a serious gynecological malformation for affected patients. The condition hits young women in puberty and is associated with socio-esthetic handicap, depression, and psychosexual problems. Surgical treatment is usually early in the patient's lifetime, so a long-term sustainable solution is important. Although postoperative outcome has been evaluated in several studies before, this study is the first to analyze which objective parameters have the greatest influence on subjective satisfaction with long-term results. Methods Thirty-four patients diagnosed with congenital breast asymmetry that underwent either lipofilling or implant therapy between the years of 2008 to 2019 were examined. On average, our collective comprised patients seven years after surgery. Data were mainly gathered through manual measurements, patient-reported outcome measures (Breast Q™), and breast volumetry based on 3D scans (Vectra® H2, Canfield Scientific). Results Among all analyzed parameters, only areolar diameter correlated significantly negatively with the subjective outcome satisfaction of the patient. Regarding the subjective assessment of postoperative satisfaction with similarity of the breasts, again the mean areolar diameter, but also the difference in areolar diameter and breast volume between the right and left breasts correlated significantly negatively. Conclusion Areolar diameter was revealed as being a significant factor influencing subjective long-term satisfaction in breast asymmetry patients. Moreover, 3D volumetry proves to be an effective tool to substantiate subjective patient assessments. Our findings may lead to further improvements to surgical planning and will be expanded in further studies. KW - Congenital breast asymmetry KW - Poland syndrome KW - Lipofilling KW - Silicone implant KW - 3D volumetry Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-021-06218-0 PB - Springer Nature ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Manzeneder, Johannes A1 - Souza Jr., Luis Antonio de A1 - Papa, João Paulo A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Messmann, Helmut T1 - Computer-aided diagnosis using deep learning in the evaluation of early oesophageal adenocarcinoma JF - GuT N2 - Computer-aided diagnosis using deep learning (CAD-DL) may be an instrument to improve endoscopic assessment of Barrett’s oesophagus (BE) and early oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Based on still images from two databases, the diagnosis of EAC by CAD-DL reached sensitivities/specificities of 97%/88% (Augsburg data) and 92%/100% (Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention [MICCAI] data) for white light (WL) images and 94%/80% for narrow band images (NBI) (Augsburg data), respectively. Tumour margins delineated by experts into images were detected satisfactorily with a Dice coefficient (D) of 0.72. This could be a first step towards CAD-DL for BE assessment. If developed further, it could become a useful adjunctive tool for patient management. KW - Speiseröhrenkrebs KW - Diagnose KW - Computerunterstütztes Verfahren KW - Maschinelles Lernen Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-68 N1 - Corresponding authors: Alanna Ebigbo and Christoph Palm VL - 68 IS - 7 SP - 1143 EP - 1145 PB - British Society of Gastroenterology ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wöhl, Rebecca A1 - Maier, Johannes A1 - Gehmert, Sebastian A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Riebschläger, Birgit A1 - Nerlich, Michael A1 - Huber, Michaela T1 - 3D Analysis of Osteosyntheses Material using semi-automated CT Segmentation BT - a case series of a 4 corner fusion plate JF - BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders N2 - Backround Scaphoidectomy and midcarpal fusion can be performed using traditional fixation methods like K-wires, staples, screws or different dorsal (non)locking arthrodesis systems. The aim of this study is to test the Aptus four corner locking plate and to compare the clinical findings to the data revealed by CT scans and semi-automated segmentation. Methods: This is a retrospective review of eleven patients suffering from scapholunate advanced collapse (SLAC) or scaphoid non-union advanced collapse (SNAC) wrist, who received a four corner fusion between August 2011 and July 2014. The clinical evaluation consisted of measuring the range of motion (ROM), strength and pain on a visual analogue scale (VAS). Additionally, the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH) and the Mayo Wrist Score were assessed. A computerized tomography (CT) of the wrist was obtained six weeks postoperatively. After semi-automated segmentation of the CT scans, the models were post processed and surveyed. Results During the six-month follow-up mean range of motion (ROM) of the operated wrist was 60°, consisting of 30° extension and 30° flexion. While pain levels decreased significantly, 54% of grip strength and 89% of pinch strength were preserved compared to the contralateral healthy wrist. Union could be detected in all CT scans of the wrist. While X-ray pictures obtained postoperatively revealed no pathology, two user related technical complications were found through the 3D analysis, which correlated to the clinical outcome. Conclusion Due to semi-automated segmentation and 3D analysis it has been proved that the plate design can keep up to the manufacturers’ promises. Over all, this case series confirmed that the plate can compete with the coexisting techniques concerning clinical outcome, union and complication rate. KW - Handchirurgie KW - Osteosynthese KW - Arthrodese KW - 4FC KW - SLAC wrist KW - SNAC wrist KW - Semi-automated segmentation KW - 3D analysis KW - Computertomographie KW - Bildsegmentierung KW - Dreidimensionale Bildverarbeitung Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-018-1975-0 VL - 19 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Springer Nature ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Souza Jr., Luis Antonio de A1 - Passos, Leandro A. A1 - Santana, Marcos Cleison S. A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Rauber, David A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Papa, João Paulo A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Layer-selective deep representation to improve esophageal cancer classification JF - Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing N2 - Even though artificial intelligence and machine learning have demonstrated remarkable performances in medical image computing, their accountability and transparency level must be improved to transfer this success into clinical practice. The reliability of machine learning decisions must be explained and interpreted, especially for supporting the medical diagnosis.For this task, the deep learning techniques’ black-box nature must somehow be lightened up to clarify its promising results. Hence, we aim to investigate the impact of the ResNet-50 deep convolutional design for Barrett’s esophagus and adenocarcinoma classification. For such a task, and aiming at proposing a two-step learning technique, the output of each convolutional layer that composes the ResNet-50 architecture was trained and classified for further definition of layers that would provide more impact in the architecture. We showed that local information and high-dimensional features are essential to improve the classification for our task. Besides, we observed a significant improvement when the most discriminative layers expressed more impact in the training and classification of ResNet-50 for Barrett’s esophagus and adenocarcinoma classification, demonstrating that both human knowledge and computational processing may influence the correct learning of such a problem. KW - Multistep training KW - Barrett’s esophagus detection KW - Convolutional neural networks KW - Deep learning Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-024-03142-8 VL - 62 SP - 3355 EP - 3372 PB - Springer Nature CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Meinikheim, Michael A1 - Byrne, Michael F. A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Multimodal imaging for detection and segmentation of Barrett’s esophagus-related neoplasia using artificial intelligence JF - Endoscopy N2 - The early diagnosis of cancer in Barrett’s esophagus is crucial for improving the prognosis. However, identifying Barrett’s esophagus-related neoplasia (BERN) is challenging, even for experts [1]. Four-quadrant biopsies may improve the detection of neoplasia, but they can be associated with sampling errors. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) to the assessment of Barrett’s esophagus could improve the diagnosis of BERN, and this has been demonstrated in both preclinical and clinical studies [2] [3]. In this video demonstration, we show the accurate detection and delineation of BERN in two patients ([Video 1]). In part 1, the AI system detects a mucosal cancer about 20 mm in size and accurately delineates the lesion in both white-light and narrow-band imaging. In part 2, a small island of BERN with high-grade dysplasia is detected and delineated in white-light, narrow-band, and texture and color enhancement imaging. The video shows the results using a transparent overlay of the mucosal cancer in real time as well as a full segmentation preview. Additionally, the optical flow allows for the assessment of endoscope movement, something which is inversely related to the reliability of the AI prediction. We demonstrate that multimodal imaging can be applied to the AI-assisted detection and segmentation of even small focal lesions in real time. KW - Video KW - Artificial Intelligence KW - Multimodal Imaging Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1704-7885 VL - 54 IS - 10 PB - Georg Thieme Verlag CY - Stuttgart ET - E-Video ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kolev, Kalin A1 - Kirchgeßner, Norbert A1 - Houben, Sebastian A1 - Csiszár, Agnes A1 - Rubner, Wolfgang A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Eiben, Björn A1 - Merkel, Rudolf A1 - Cremers, Daniel T1 - A variational approach to vesicle membrane reconstruction from fluorescence imaging JF - Pattern Recognition N2 - Biological applications like vesicle membrane analysis involve the precise segmentation of 3D structures in noisy volumetric data, obtained by techniques like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or laser scanning microscopy (LSM). Dealing with such data is a challenging task and requires robust and accurate segmentation methods. In this article, we propose a novel energy model for 3D segmentation fusing various cues like regional intensity subdivision, edge alignment and orientation information. The uniqueness of the approach consists in the definition of a new anisotropic regularizer, which accounts for the unbalanced slicing of the measured volume data, and the generalization of an efficient numerical scheme for solving the arising minimization problem, based on linearization and fixed-point iteration. We show how the proposed energy model can be optimized globally by making use of recent continuous convex relaxation techniques. The accuracy and robustness of the presented approach are demonstrated by evaluating it on multiple real data sets and comparing it to alternative segmentation methods based on level sets. Although the proposed model is designed with focus on the particular application at hand, it is general enough to be applied to a variety of different segmentation tasks. KW - 3D segmentation KW - Convex optimization KW - Vesicle membrane analysis KW - Fluorescence imaging KW - Dreidimensionale Bildverarbeitung KW - Bildsegmentierung KW - Konvexe Optimierung Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patcog.2011.04.019 VL - 44 IS - 12 SP - 2944 EP - 2958 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheppach, Markus W. A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Meinikheim, Michael A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna T1 - ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) – ASSISTED VESSEL AND TISSUE RECOGNITION IN THIRD-SPACE ENDOSCOPY JF - Endoscopy N2 - Aims Third-space endoscopy procedures such as endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) are complex interventions with elevated risk of operator-dependent adverse events, such as intra-procedural bleeding and perforation. We aimed to design an artificial intelligence clinical decision support solution (AI-CDSS, “Smart ESD”) for the detection and delineation of vessels, tissue structures, and instruments during third-space endoscopy procedures. Methods Twelve full-length third-space endoscopy videos were extracted from the Augsburg University Hospital database. 1686 frames were annotated for the following categories: Submucosal layer, blood vessels, electrosurgical knife and endoscopic instrument. A DeepLabv3+neural network with a 101-layer ResNet backbone was trained and validated internally. Finally, the ability of the AI system to detect visible vessels during ESD and POEM was determined on 24 separate video clips of 7 to 46 seconds duration and showing 33 predefined vessels. These video clips were also assessed by an expert in third-space endoscopy. Results Smart ESD showed a vessel detection rate (VDR) of 93.94%, while an average of 1.87 false positive signals were recorded per minute. VDR of the expert endoscopist was 90.1% with no false positive findings. On the internal validation data set using still images, the AI system demonstrated an Intersection over Union (IoU), mean Dice score and pixel accuracy of 63.47%, 76.18% and 86.61%, respectively. Conclusions This is the first AI-CDSS aiming to mitigate operator-dependent limitations during third-space endoscopy. Further clinical trials are underway to better understand the role of AI in such procedures. KW - Artificial Intelligence KW - Third-Space Endoscopy KW - Smart ESD Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0042-1745037 VL - 54 IS - S01 SP - S175 PB - Thieme ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hartwig, Regine A1 - Berlet, Maximilian A1 - Czempiel, Tobias A1 - Fuchtmann, Jonas A1 - Rückert, Tobias A1 - Feussner, Hubertus A1 - Wilhelm, Dirk T1 - Bildbasierte Unterstützungsmethoden für die zukünftige Anwendung in der Chirurgie JF - Die Chirurgie N2 - Hintergrund: Die Entwicklung assistiver Technologien wird in den kommenden Jahren nicht nur in der Chirurgie von zunehmender Bedeutung sein. Die Wahrnehmung der Istsituation stellt hierbei die Grundlage jeder autonomen Handlung dar. Hierfür können unterschiedliche Sensorsysteme genutzt werden, wobei videobasierte Systeme ein besonderes Potenzial aufweisen. Methode: Anhand von Literaturangaben und auf Basis eigener Forschungsarbeiten werden zentrale Aspekte bildbasierter Unterstützungssysteme für die Chirurgie dargestellt. Hierbei wird deren Potenzial, aber auch die Limitationen der Methoden erläutert. Ergebnisse: Eine etablierte Anwendung stellt die Phasendetektion chirurgischer Eingriffe dar, für die Operationsvideos mittels neuronaler Netzwerke analysiert werden. Durch eine zeitlich gestützte und transformative Analyse konnten die Ergebnisse der Prädiktion jüngst deutlich verbessert werden. Aber auch robotische Kameraführungssysteme nutzen Bilddaten, um das Laparoskop zukünftig autonom zu navigieren. Um die Zuverlässigkeit an die hohen Anforderungen in der Chirurgie anzugleichen, müssen diese jedoch durch zusätzliche Informationen ergänzt werden. Ein vergleichbarer multimodaler Ansatz wurde bereits für die Navigation und Lokalisation bei laparoskopischen Eingriffen umgesetzt. Hierzu werden Videodaten mittels verschiedener Methoden analysiert und diese Ergebnisse mit anderen Sensormodalitäten fusioniert. Diskussion: Bildbasierte Unterstützungsmethoden sind bereits für diverse Aufgaben verfügbar und stellen einen wichtigen Aspekt für die Chirurgie der Zukunft dar. Um hier jedoch zuverlässig und für autonome Funktionen eingesetzt werden zu können, müssen sie zukünftig in multimodale Ansätze eingebettet werden, um die erforderliche Sicherheit bieten zu können. T2 - Image-based supportive measures for future application in surgery KW - Künstliche Intelligenz KW - Robotik KW - Kognitiver Operationsaal KW - Autonomie KW - Digitalisierung Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00104-022-01668-x VL - 93 SP - 956 EP - 965 PB - Springer ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Souza Jr., Luis Antonio de A1 - Pacheco, André G.C. A1 - Passos, Leandro A. A1 - Santana, Marcos Cleison S. A1 - Mendel, Robert A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Papa, João Paulo T1 - DeepCraftFuse: visual and deeply-learnable features work better together for esophageal cancer detection in patients with Barrett’s esophagus JF - Neural Computing and Applications N2 - Limitations in computer-assisted diagnosis include lack of labeled data and inability to model the relation between what experts see and what computers learn. Even though artificial intelligence and machine learning have demonstrated remarkable performances in medical image computing, their accountability and transparency level must be improved to transfer this success into clinical practice. The reliability of machine learning decisions must be explained and interpreted, especially for supporting the medical diagnosis. While deep learning techniques are broad so that unseen information might help learn patterns of interest, human insights to describe objects of interest help in decision-making. This paper proposes a novel approach, DeepCraftFuse, to address the challenge of combining information provided by deep networks with visual-based features to significantly enhance the correct identification of cancerous tissues in patients affected with Barrett’s esophagus (BE). We demonstrate that DeepCraftFuse outperforms state-of-the-art techniques on private and public datasets, reaching results of around 95% when distinguishing patients affected by BE that is either positive or negative to esophageal cancer. KW - Deep Learning KW - Speiseröhrenkrebs KW - Adenocarcinom KW - Endobrachyösophagus KW - Diagnose KW - Maschinelles Lernen KW - Machine learning KW - Adenocarcinoma KW - Object detector KW - Barrett’s esophagus KW - Deep Learning Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-024-09615-z VL - 36 SP - 10445 EP - 10459 PB - Springer CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Souza, Luis A. A1 - Pacheco, André G.C. A1 - de Souza, Alberto F. A1 - Oliveira-Santos, Thiago A1 - Badue, Claudine A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Papa, João Paulo T1 - TransConv: a lightweight architecture based on transformers and convolutional neural networks for adenocarcinoma and Barrett’s esophagus identification JF - Neural Computing and Applications N2 - Barrett’s esophagus, also known as BE, is commonly associated with repeated exposure to stomach acid. If not treated properly, it may evolve into esophageal adenocarcinoma, aka esophageal cancer. This paper proposes TransConv, a hybrid architecture that benefits from features learned by pre-trained vision transformers (ViTs) and convolutional neural networks (CNNs), followed by a shallow neural network composed of three normalizations, ReLU activations, and fully connected layers, and a SoftMax head to distinguish between BE and esophageal cancer. TransConv is designed to be training-lightweight, and for the ViT and CNN backbone models, weights are kept frozen during training, i.e., the primary goal of TransConv is to learn the weights of the fully connected layer from both backbones only, avoiding the burden of updating their weights but still learning their final descriptions for the lightweight convolutional model. We report promising results with low computational training costs in two datasets, one public and another private. From our achievements, TransConv was able to deliver balanced accuracy results around 85% and 86% for each evaluated dataset, respectively, in a design that required only 50 epochs of model training, a very reduced number compared to state-of-the-art conducted studies in the same domain. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-025-11299-y IS - 37 SP - 15535 EP - 15546 PB - Springer ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hammer, Simone A1 - Nunes, Danilo Weber A1 - Hammer, Michael A1 - Zeman, Florian A1 - Akers, Michael A1 - Götz, Andrea A1 - Balla, Annika A1 - Doppler, Michael Christian A1 - Fellner, Claudia A1 - Da Platz Batista Silva, Natascha A1 - Thurn, Sylvia A1 - Verloh, Niklas A1 - Stroszczynski, Christian A1 - Wohlgemuth, Walter Alexander A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Uller, Wibke T1 - Deep learning-based differentiation of peripheral high-flow and low-flow vascular malformations in T2-weighted short tau inversion recovery MRI JF - Clinical hemorheology and microcirculation N2 - BACKGROUND Differentiation of high-flow from low-flow vascular malformations (VMs) is crucial for therapeutic management of this orphan disease. OBJECTIVE A convolutional neural network (CNN) was evaluated for differentiation of peripheral vascular malformations (VMs) on T2-weighted short tau inversion recovery (STIR) MRI. METHODS 527 MRIs (386 low-flow and 141 high-flow VMs) were randomly divided into training, validation and test set for this single-center study. 1) Results of the CNN's diagnostic performance were compared with that of two expert and four junior radiologists. 2) The influence of CNN's prediction on the radiologists' performance and diagnostic certainty was evaluated. 3) Junior radiologists' performance after self-training was compared with that of the CNN. RESULTS Compared with the expert radiologists the CNN achieved similar accuracy (92% vs. 97%, p = 0.11), sensitivity (80% vs. 93%, p = 0.16) and specificity (97% vs. 100%, p = 0.50). In comparison to the junior radiologists, the CNN had a higher specificity and accuracy (97% vs. 80%, p <  0.001; 92% vs. 77%, p <  0.001). CNN assistance had no significant influence on their diagnostic performance and certainty. After self-training, the junior radiologists' specificity and accuracy improved and were comparable to that of the CNN. CONCLUSIONS Diagnostic performance of the CNN for differentiating high-flow from low-flow VM was comparable to that of expert radiologists. CNN did not significantly improve the simulated daily practice of junior radiologists, self-training was more effective. KW - magnetic resonance imaging KW - deep learning KW - Vascular malformation Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3233/CH-232071 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - IOP Press ET - Pre-press ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rueckert, Tobias A1 - Rauber, David A1 - Maerkl, Raphaela A1 - Klausmann, Leonard A1 - Yildiran, Suemeyye R. A1 - Gutbrod, Max A1 - Nunes, Danilo Weber A1 - Moreno, Alvaro Fernandez A1 - Luengo, Imanol A1 - Stoyanov, Danail A1 - Toussaint, Nicolas A1 - Cho, Enki A1 - Kim, Hyeon Bae A1 - Choo, Oh Sung A1 - Kim, Ka Young A1 - Kim, Seong Tae A1 - Arantes, Gonçalo A1 - Song, Kehan A1 - Zhu, Jianjun A1 - Xiong, Junchen A1 - Lin, Tingyi A1 - Kikuchi, Shunsuke A1 - Matsuzaki, Hiroki A1 - Kouno, Atsushi A1 - Manesco, João Renato Ribeiro A1 - Papa, João Paulo A1 - Choi, Tae-Min A1 - Jeong, Tae Kyeong A1 - Park, Juyoun A1 - Alabi, Oluwatosin A1 - Wei, Meng A1 - Vercauteren, Tom A1 - Wu, Runzhi A1 - Xu, Mengya A1 - Wang, An A1 - Bai, Long A1 - Ren, Hongliang A1 - Yamlahi, Amine A1 - Hennighausen, Jakob A1 - Maier-Hein, Lena A1 - Kondo, Satoshi A1 - Kasai, Satoshi A1 - Hirasawa, Kousuke A1 - Yang, Shu A1 - Wang, Yihui A1 - Chen, Hao A1 - Rodríguez, Santiago A1 - Aparicio, Nicolás A1 - Manrique, Leonardo A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Wilhelm, Dirk A1 - Feussner, Hubertus A1 - Rueckert, Daniel A1 - Speidel, Stefanie A1 - Nasirihaghighi, Sahar A1 - Al Khalil, Yasmina A1 - Li, Yiping A1 - Arbeláez, Pablo A1 - Ayobi, Nicolás A1 - Hosie, Olivia A1 - Lyons, Juan Camilo T1 - Comparative validation of surgical phase recognition, instrument keypoint estimation, and instrument instance segmentation in endoscopy: Results of the PhaKIR 2024 challenge JF - Medical Image Analysis N2 - Reliable recognition and localization of surgical instruments in endoscopic video recordings are foundational for a wide range of applications in computer- and robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RAMIS), including surgical training, skill assessment, and autonomous assistance. However, robust performance under real-world conditions remains a significant challenge. Incorporating surgical context – such as the current procedural phase – has emerged as a promising strategy to improve robustness and interpretability. To address these challenges, we organized the Surgical Procedure Phase, Keypoint, and Instrument Recognition (PhaKIR) sub-challenge as part of the Endoscopic Vision (EndoVis) challenge at MICCAI 2024. We introduced a novel, multi-center dataset comprising thirteen full-length laparoscopic cholecystectomy videos collected from three distinct medical institutions, with unified annotations for three interrelated tasks: surgical phase recognition, instrument keypoint estimation, and instrument instance segmentation. Unlike existing datasets, ours enables joint investigation of instrument localization and procedural context within the same data while supporting the integration of temporal information across entire procedures. We report results and findings in accordance with the BIAS guidelines for biomedical image analysis challenges. The PhaKIR sub-challenge advances the field by providing a unique benchmark for developing temporally aware, context-driven methods in RAMIS and offers a high-quality resource to support future research in surgical scene understanding. KW - Surgical phase recognition KW - Instrument keypoint estimation KW - Instrument instance segmentation KW - Robot-assisted surgery Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.media.2026.103945 SN - 1361-8415 N1 - Corresponding author der OTH Regensburg: Tobias Rueckert Die Preprint-Version ist ebenfalls in diesem Repositorium verzeichnet unter: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-oth-regensburg/solrsearch/index/search/start/0/rows/10/sortfield/score/sortorder/desc/searchtype/simple/query/2507.16559 VL - 109 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - de Souza Júnior, Luis Antonio A1 - Pacheco, André Georghton Cardoso A1 - Oliveira dos Santos, Thiago A1 - Fogos da Rocha, Wyctor A1 - Bouzon, Pedro Henrique A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Papa, João Paulo T1 - LiwTERM-r: a Revised Lightweight Transformer-based Model for Multimodal Skin Lesion Detection Robust to Incomplete Input JF - Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society N2 - As the most common type of cancer in the world, skin cancer accounts for approximately 30% of all diagnosed tumor-based lesions. Early diagnosis can reduce mortality and prevent disfiguring in different skin regions. With the application of machine learning techniques in recent years, especially deep learning, promising results in this task could be achieved, presenting studies demonstrating that the combination of patients’ clinical anamneses and images of the injured lesion is essential for improving the correct classification of skin lesions. Despite that, meaningful use of anamneses with multiple collected images of the same skin lesion is mandatory, requiring further investigation. Thus, this project aims to contribute to developing multimodal machine learning-based models to solve the skin lesion classification problem by employing a lightweight transformer model that is robust to missing clinical information input. As a main hypothesis, models can be fed by multiple images from different sources as input along with clinical anamneses from the patient’s historical evaluations, leading to a more factual and trustworthy diagnosis. Our model deals with the not-trivial task of combining images and clinical information concerning the skin lesions in a lightweight transformer architecture that does not demand high computation resources or even all the information from the anamneses but still presents competitive classification results. KW - Deep learning KW - Skin Lesion Detection KW - Transformers KW - Lightweight Architectures Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5753/jbcs.2026.5871 VL - 32 IS - 1 PB - Brazilian Computer Society ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wallner, M. A1 - Gutbrod, Max A1 - Rauber, David A1 - Ebigbo, Alanna A1 - Probst, Andreas A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Messmann, Helmut A1 - Roser, David T1 - KI-gestützte Detektion und Segmentierung von Magenkarzinomen in westlichen endoskopischen Bilddaten anhand eines fine-tuned Deep-Learning Ansatzes JF - Zeitschrift für Gastroenterologie N2 - Diese vorläufige monozentrische Studie zeigt, dass ein aus einem Barrett-Ösophagus-KI-System feinjustiertes Deep-Learning-Modell Magenkarzinome in westlichen multimodalen endoskopischen Bilddaten zuverlässig detektieren und präzise segmentieren kann. Die hohe Segmentierungsgenauigkeit und Detektionssensitivität über verschiedene Bildmodalitäten hinweg unterstreichen die Machbarkeit eines pathologiegestützten KI-Ansatzes auch in einer westlichen Niedriginzidenzpopulation. Aufgrund der ausschließlichen Verwendung von Bildern mit sichtbaren Tumoren lassen sich keine Aussagen zur Spezifität treffen; eine Übertragbarkeit auf Screening- oder Mischkollektive ist daher limitiert. Weitere Studien mit a) größerem Datensatz inklusive Videodaten, b) externer Validierung an einer multizentrischen westlichen Kohorte, sowie c) Anwendung und Prüfung an nicht-neoplastischen Vergleichsbildern oder anderen Pathologien sind erforderlich. Nach unserem Kenntnisstand zählt dieses System zu den ersten in einer westlichen Population entwickelten endoskopischen KI-Ansätzen zur Magenkarzinomdetektion, und zu wenigen, die vollständige ESD-präparatbasierte Referenzdaten für Training und Validierung nutzen. Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0046-1817751 VL - 64 IS - 03 SP - e64 EP - e65 PB - Thieme ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiherer, Maximilian A1 - von Riedheim, Antonia A1 - Brébant, Vanessa A1 - Egger, Bernhard A1 - Palm, Christoph T1 - Learning Neural Parametric 3D Breast Shape Models for Metrical Surface Reconstruction From Monocular RGB Videos JF - Machine Learning for Biomedical Imaging (MELBA) N2 - We present a neural parametric 3D breast shape model and, based on this model, introduce a low-cost and accessible 3D surface reconstruction pipeline capable of recovering accurate breast geometry from a monocular RGB video. In contrast to widely used, commercially available yet expensive 3D breast scanning solutions and existing low-cost alternatives, our method requires neither specialized hardware nor proprietary software and can be used with any device that is able to record RGB videos. The key building blocks of our pipeline are a state-of-the-art, off-the-shelf Structure-from-Motion pipeline, paired with a parametric breast model for robust surface reconstruction. Our model, similarly to the recently proposed implicit Regensburg Breast Shape Model (iRBSM), leverages implicit neural representations to model breast shapes. However, unlike the iRBSM, which employs a single global neural Signed Distance Function (SDF), our approach—inspired by recent state-of-the-art face models—decomposes the implicit breast domain into multiple smaller regions, each represented by a local neural SDF anchored at anatomical landmark positions. When incorporated into our surface reconstruction pipeline, the proposed model, dubbed liRBSM (short for localized iRBSM), significantly outperforms the iRBSM in terms of reconstruction quality, yielding more detailed surface reconstruction than its global counterpart. Overall, we find that the introduced pipeline is able to recover high-quality and metrically correct 3D breast geometry within an error margin of less than 2 mm. Our method is fast (requires less than six minutes), fully transparent and open-source, and together with the model publicly available at https://rbsm.re-mic.de/local-implicit. KW - 3D Reconstruction KW - Shape Modeling Y1 - 2026 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-89791 IS - MELBA–BVM 2025 Special Issue SP - 95 EP - 114 PB - Melba ER -