# AutoPET Challenge: Combining nn-Unet with Swin UNETR Augmented by Maximum Intensity Projection Classifier

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.01112 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.01112/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 10 of its 15 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 2 Sep 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11929/) (2020)
- [Swin Transformer: Hierarchical Vision Transformer using Shifted Windows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.14030/) (2021)
- [EfficientNet: Rethinking Model Scaling for Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.11946/) (2019)
- [Swin Transformer V2: Scaling Up Capacity and Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.09883/) (2021)
- [Swin-Unet: Unet-like Pure Transformer for Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.05537/) (2021)
- [UNETR: Transformers for 3D Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.10504/) (2021)
- [Swin UNETR: Swin Transformers for Semantic Segmentation of Brain Tumors in MRI Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.01266/) (2022)
- [CoAtNet: Marrying Convolution and Attention for All Data Sizes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.04803/) (2021)
- [Medical Deep Learning -- A systematic Meta-Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.14881/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Mirror U-Net: Marrying Multimodal Fission with Multi-task Learning for Semantic Segmentation in Medical Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.07126/) (2023)
- [Guiding the Guidance: A Comparative Analysis of User Guidance Signals for Interactive Segmentation of Volumetric Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.06942/) (2023)
- [Sliding Window FastEdit: A Framework for Lesion Annotation in Whole-body PET Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.14482/) (2023)
- [AutoPET Challenge 2023: Sliding Window-based Optimization of U-Net](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.12114/) (2023)
- [Automated ensemble method for pediatric brain tumor segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.07212/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Tumor volume and changes in tumor characteristics over time are important biomarkers for cancer therapy. In this context, FDG-PET/CT scans are routinely used for staging and re-staging of cancer, as the radiolabeled fluorodeoxyglucose is taken up in regions of high metabolism. Unfortunately, these regions with high metabolism are not specific to tumors and can also represent physiological uptake by normal functioning organs, inflammation, or infection, making detailed and reliable tumor segmentation in these scans a demanding task. This gap in research is addressed by the AutoPET challenge, which provides a public data set with FDG-PET/CT scans from 900 patients to encourage further improvement in this field. Our contribution to this challenge is an ensemble of two state-of-the-art segmentation models, the nn-Unet and the Swin UNETR, augmented by a maximum intensity projection classifier that acts like a gating mechanism. If it predicts the existence of lesions, both segmentations are combined by a late fusion approach. Our solution achieves a Dice score of 72.12% on patients diagnosed with lung cancer, melanoma, and lymphoma in our cross-validation. Code: https://github.com/heiligerl/autopetsubmission