A hybrid feature selection-based brain tumor detection and segmentation in multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging

To develop a novel method based on feature selection, combining convolutional neural network (CNN) and ensemble learning (EL), to achieve high accuracy and efficiency of glioma detection and segmentation using multiparametric MRIs.

We proposed an evolutionary feature selection-based hybrid approach for glioma detection and segmentation on 4 MR sequences (T2-FLAIR, T1, T1Gd, and T2). First, we trained a lightweight CNN to detect glioma and mask the suspected region to process large batch of MRI images. Second, we employed a differential evolution algorithm to search a feature space, which composed of 416-dimensions radiomics features extracted from four sequences of MRIs and 128-dimensions high-order features extracted by the CNN, to generate an optimal feature combination for pixel classification. Finally, we trained an EL classifier using the optimal feature combination to segment whole tumor (WT) and its subregions including non-enhancing tumor (NET), peritumoral edema (ED), and enhancing tumor (ET) in the suspected region. Experiments were carried out on 300 glioma patients from the BraTS2019 dataset using fivefold cross-validation, and the model was independently validated using the rest 35 patients from the same database.

The approach achieved a detection accuracy of 98.8% using four MRIs. The Dice coefficients (and standard deviations) were 0.852 ± 0.057, 0.844 ± 0.046, and 0.799 ± 0.053 for segmentation of WT (NET+ET+ED), tumor core (NET+ET), and ET, respectively. The sensitivities and specificities were 0.873 ± 0.074, 0.863 ± 0.072, and 0.852 ± 0.082; the specificities were 0.994 ± 0.005, 0.994 ± 0.005, and 0.995 ± 0.004 for the WT, tumor core, and ET, respectively. The performances and calculation times were compared with the state-of-the-art approaches, our approach yielded a better overall performance with average processing time of 139.5 s per set of four sequence MRIs.

We demonstrated a robust and computational cost-effective hybrid segmentation approach for glioma and its subregions on multi-sequence MR images. The proposed approach can be used for automated target delineation for glioma patients.