Artificial Intelligence Image-aided Diagnosis Platform In Identifying EMVI Of Rectal Cancer:A Multicenter Clinical Study

ObjectiveTo explore the clinical application value of artificial intelligence image-aided diagnosis platform in identifying EMVI of rectal cancer.MethodIn this multicenter retrospective study,500 patients with rectal cancer who underwent high-resolution MRI examination between July 2016 and February 2019 were selected from seven hospitals in China.They were divided into 174 positive and 326 negative patients.Patients were randomized to a training group(400 patients,including 133 positive and 267 negative)and a validation group(100 patients,including 41 positive and 59 negative)using a random number method.Using the Faster R-CNN to learn and train 20430 high-resolution MRI images of the training group,an artificial intelligence imageaided diagnosis platform was established.The 5107 high-resolution MRI images of the validation group were clinically validated.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve and area under the curve(AUC)were used to compare the diagnostic results of the artificial intelligence image-aided diagnosis platform and the senior image expert.ResultThe accuracy,sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of EMVI for artificial intelligence image-aided diagnosis platform were 93.4%,97.3%,89.5%,0.90 and 0.97,respectively.The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC)was 0.98.The time required to automatically recognize a single image is 0.2 seconds,which has clear advantages compared to radiologists(estimated to be about 10 seconds).ConclusionThe artificial intelligence image-assisted diagnosis platform based on Faster R-CNN has high efficiency and feasibility for identifying rectal cancer EMVI from the level of the levator ani muscle to the peritoneal reflection,and can assist imaging diagnosis.