# Knowledge-Guided Prompt Learning for Lifespan Brain MR Image Segmentation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.21328 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21328/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 11 of its 27 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 31 Jul 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [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)
- [V-Net: Fully Convolutional Neural Networks for Volumetric Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.04797/) (2016)
- [Visual Prompt Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.12119/) (2022)
- [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)
- [MONAI: An open-source framework for deep learning in healthcare](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.02701/) (2022)
- [ChatCAD+: Towards a Universal and Reliable Interactive CAD using LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.15964/) (2023)
- [Deep CNN ensembles and suggestive annotations for infant brain MRI segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.05319/) (2017)
- [Visual-Attribute Prompt Learning for Progressive Mild Cognitive Impairment Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.14158/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Adversarial Neural Networks in Medical Imaging Advancements and Challenges in Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.13099/) (2024)
- [Prompt Mechanisms in Medical Imaging: A Comprehensive Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.01055/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Automatic and accurate segmentation of brain MR images throughout the human lifespan into tissue and structure is crucial for understanding brain development and diagnosing diseases. However, challenges arise from the intricate variations in brain appearance due to rapid early brain development, aging, and disorders, compounded by the limited availability of manually-labeled datasets. In response, we present a two-step segmentation framework employing Knowledge-Guided Prompt Learning (KGPL) for brain MRI. Specifically, we first pre-train segmentation models on large-scale datasets with sub-optimal labels, followed by the incorporation of knowledge-driven embeddings learned from image-text alignment into the models. The introduction of knowledge-wise prompts captures semantic relationships between anatomical variability and biological processes, enabling models to learn structural feature embeddings across diverse age groups. Experimental findings demonstrate the superiority and robustness of our proposed method, particularly noticeable when employing Swin UNETR as the backbone. Our approach achieves average DSC values of 95.17% and 94.19% for brain tissue and structure segmentation, respectively. Our code is available at https://github.com/TL9792/KGPL.