EFNet: estimation of left ventricular ejection fraction from cardiac ultrasound videos using deep learning

The ejection fraction (EF) is a vital metric for assessing cardiovascular function through cardiac ultrasound. Manual evaluation is time-consuming and exhibits high variability among observers. Deep-learning techniques offer precise and autonomous EF predictions, yet these methods often lack explainability. Accurate heart failure prediction using cardiac ultrasound is challenging due to operator dependency and inconsistent video quality, resulting in significant interobserver variability. To address this, we developed a method integrating convolutional neural networks (CNN) and transformer models for direct EF estimation from ultrasound video scans. This article introduces a Residual Transformer Module (RTM) that extends a 3D ResNet-based network to analyze (2D + t) spatiotemporal cardiac ultrasound video scans. The proposed method, EFNet, utilizes cardiac ultrasound video images for end-to-end EF value prediction. Performance evaluation on the EchoNet-Dynamic dataset yielded a mean absolute error (MAE) of 3.7 and an R2 score of 0.82. Experimental results demonstrate that EFNet outperforms state-of-the-art techniques, providing accurate EF predictions.