# Self and Mixed Supervision to Improve Training Labels for Multi-Class Medical Image Segmentation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.03882 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.03882/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 15 of its 29 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Mar 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [A Survey on Deep Learning in Medical Image Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.05747/) (2017)
- [ADVENT: Adversarial Entropy Minimization for Domain Adaptation in Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.12833/) (2018)
- [Generalised Dice overlap as a deep learning loss function for highly unbalanced segmentations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.03237/) (2017)
- [TotalSegmentator: robust segmentation of 104 anatomical structures in CT images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.05868/) (2022)
- [Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation with Cross Pseudo Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.01226/) (2021)
- [Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation with Cross-Consistency Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.09005/) (2020)
- [Learning with Limited Annotations: A Survey on Deep Semi-Supervised Learning for Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.14191/) (2022)
- [BoostMIS: Boosting Medical Image Semi-supervised Learning with Adaptive Pseudo Labeling and Informative Active Annotation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02533/) (2022)
- [Diminishing Uncertainty within the Training Pool: Active Learning for Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.02323/) (2021)
- [Self-Loop Uncertainty: A Novel Pseudo-Label for Semi-Supervised Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.09854/) (2020)
- [Revisiting Rubik's Cube: Self-supervised Learning with Volume-wise Transformation for 3D Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.08826/) (2020)
- [Towards Generic Semi-Supervised Framework for Volumetric Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.11320/) (2023)
- [CUTS: A Deep Learning and Topological Framework for Multigranular Unsupervised Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.11359/) (2022)
- [Segmentation with mixed supervision: Confidence maximization helps knowledge distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.10902/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Accurate training labels are a key component for multi-class medical image segmentation. Their annotation is costly and time-consuming because it requires domain expertise. This work aims to develop a dual-branch network and automatically improve training labels for multi-class image segmentation. Transfer learning is used to train the network and improve inaccurate weak labels sequentially. The dual-branch network is first trained by weak labels alone to initialize model parameters. After the network is stabilized, the shared encoder is frozen, and strong and weak decoders are fine-tuned by strong and weak labels together. The accuracy of weak labels is iteratively improved in the fine-tuning process. The proposed method was applied to a three-class segmentation of muscle, subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue on abdominal CT scans. Validation results on 11 patients showed that the accuracy of training labels was statistically significantly improved, with the Dice similarity coefficient of muscle, subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue increased from 74.2% to 91.5%, 91.2% to 95.6%, and 77.6% to 88.5%, respectively (p<0.05). In comparison with our earlier method, the label accuracy was also significantly improved (p<0.05). These experimental results suggested that the combination of the dual-branch network and transfer learning is an efficient means to improve training labels for multi-class segmentation.