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Abstract - Embracing Intra-Class Heterogeneity for Semi-Supervised Medical Image Segmentation: From Diversity to Precision
Due to the scarcity of expert-annotated data, Semi-Supervised Medical Image Segmentation (SSMIS) has emerged as a promising approach. Many anatomical structures in medical images exhibit significant intra-class heterogeneity, with different regions showing heterogeneous intensity patterns within the same structure. However, existing methods inadequately exploit this intensity-manifested intra-class heterogeneity, resulting in uniform structural representations and imprecise segmentation. Furthermore, the scarcity of labeled data makes it more difficult to effectively capture such complex heterogeneity. To address this, we propose Multiple Prototype Contrastive Learning (MPCL), an SSMIS framework that possesses better diversity and better precision. It consists of three novel designs: First, we provide structural representations with better diversity and propose Intensity-aligned Heterogeneous Prototype Generation (IHPG) that effectively models intra-class heterogeneity by generating multiple prototypes aligned with intensity characteristics. Second, we further enhance more diverse structural representations and build a solid foundation for more precise segmentation through Prototypical Space Optimization (PSO) that systematically optimizes a more discriminative and generalizable prototypical space. Finally, we achieve segmentation results with better precision through Dual-branch Knowledge Alignment (DKA) that efficiently promotes intra-class heterogeneity knowledge transfer from prototypical space to the segmentation network. Extensive experiments on three medical image datasets with significant intra-class heterogeneity demonstrate that MPCL significantly outperforms existing methods, especially under extremely limited labeled data.
拥抱同类异质性:面向半监督医学图像分割——从多样性到精确性 /
Embracing Intra-Class Heterogeneity for Semi-Supervised Medical Image Segmentation: From Diversity to Precision
1️⃣ 一句话总结
针对医学图像中同一结构内部因强度差异导致的异质性问题,本文提出一种名为MPCL的半监督分割框架,通过生成多个强度对齐的异质原型、优化原型空间以及实现双分支知识迁移,在仅有极少标注数据的情况下显著提升了分割的多样性与精确性。