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Predicting Cognitive Decline with Deep Learning of PET Scans (arxiv.org)
1 point by helloworld on Apr 27, 2018 | hide | past | pdf | discuss on HN

In plain words: A deep learning network reads baseline brain scans showing metabolism and protein buildup, learning from Alzheimer's and healthy people to spot which memory-impaired patients will worsen—no hand-picked measurements or image alignment needed. It predicted 84.2% of patients who progressed to Alzheimer's, beating standard measurement checks.

Abstract · Predicting Cognitive Decline with Deep Learning of Brain Metabolism and Amyloid Imaging

For effective treatment of Alzheimer disease (AD), it is important to identify subjects who are most likely to exhibit rapid cognitive decline. Herein, we developed a novel framework based on a deep convolutional neural network which can predict future cognitive decline in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients using flurodeoxyglucose and florbetapir positron emission tomography (PET). The architecture of the network only relies on baseline PET studies of AD and normal subjects as the training dataset. Feature extraction and complicated image preprocessing including nonlinear warping are unnecessary for our approach. Accuracy of prediction (84.2%) for conversion to AD in MCI patients outperformed conventional feature-based quantification approaches. ROC analyses revealed that performance of CNN-based approach was significantly higher than that of the conventional quantification methods (p < 0.05). Output scores of the network were strongly correlated with the longitudinal change in cognitive measurements. These results show the feasibility of deep learning as a tool for predicting disease outcome using brain images.

Hongyoon Choi, Kyong Hwan Jin
arXiv:1704.06033 · cs.CV, cs.AI, stat.ML · submitted Apr 20, 2017
abstract · pdf · 24 pages

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