Application of AI-assisted MRI for the identification of surgical target areas in pediatric hip and periarticular infections

Abstract

Objective To develop an AI-assisted MRI model to identify surgical target areas in pediatric hip and periarticular infections. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on the pediatric patients with hip and periarticular infections who underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI)examinations from January 2010 to January 2023 in three hospitals in China. A total of 7970 axial Short Tau Inversion Recovery (STIR) images were selected, and the corresponding regions of osteomyelitis (label 1) and abscess (label 2) were labeled using the Labelme software. The images were randomly divided into training group, validation group, and test group at a ratio of 7:2:1. A Mask R-CNN model was constructed and optimized, and the performance of identifying label 1 and label 2 was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Calculation of the average time it took for the model and specialists to process an image in the test group. Comparison of the accuracy of the model in the interpretation of MRI images with four orthopaedic surgeons, with statistical significance set at P < 0.05. Results A total of 275 patients were enrolled, comprising 197 males and 78 females, with an average age of 7.10 ± 3.59 years, ranging from 0.00 to 14.00 years. The area under curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, and F1 score for the model to identify label 1 were 0.810, 0.976, 0.995, 0.969, 0.922, and 0.957, respectively. The AUC, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, and F1 score for the model to identify label 2 were 0.890, 0.957, 0.969, 0.915, 0.976, and 0.972, respectively. The model demonstrated a significant speed advantage, taking only 0.2 s to process an image compared to average 10 s required by the specialists. The model identified osteomyelitis with an accuracy of 0.976 and abscess with an accuracy of 0.957, both statistically better than the four orthopaedic surgeons, P < 0.05. Conclusion The Mask R-CNN model is reliable for identifying surgical target areas in pediatric hip and periarticular infections, offering a more convenient and rapid option. It can assist unexperienced physicians in pre-treatment assessments, reducing the risk of missed and misdiagnosis.