# A Novel Convolutional-Free Method for 3D Medical Imaging Segmentation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.05396 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.05396/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 40 of its 62 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 Feb 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 40)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [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)
- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.1556/) (2014)
- [Swin Transformer: Hierarchical Vision Transformer using Shifted Windows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.14030/) (2021)
- [Momentum Contrast for Unsupervised Visual Representation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.05722/) (2019)
- [End-to-End Object Detection with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.12872/) (2020)
- [Masked Autoencoders Are Scalable Vision Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.06377/) (2021)
- [You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02640/) (2015)
- [Masked-attention Mask Transformer for Universal Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.01527/) (2021)
- [TransUNet: Transformers Make Strong Encoders for Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04306/) (2021)
- [UNet++: A Nested U-Net Architecture for Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.10165/) (2018)
- [SegNet: A Deep Convolutional Encoder-Decoder Architecture for Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.00561/) (2015)
- [3D U-Net: Learning Dense Volumetric Segmentation from Sparse Annotation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.06650/) (2016)
- [The Medical Segmentation Decathlon](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.05735/) (2021)
- [Stand-Alone Self-Attention in Vision Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.05909/) (2019)
- [Deep Long-Tailed Learning: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.04596/) (2021)
- [Motion Mamba: Efficient and Long Sequence Motion Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.07487/) (2024)
- [Superhuman Accuracy on the SNEMI3D Connectomics Challenge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.00120/) (2017)
- [A Survey of Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.06541/) (2016)
- [Quantifying Translation-Invariance in Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.01450/) (2017)
- [BHSD: A 3D Multi-Class Brain Hemorrhage Segmentation Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.11298/) (2023)
- [InfiniMotion: Mamba Boosts Memory in Transformer for Arbitrary Long Motion Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.10061/) (2024)
- [Motion Avatar: Generate Human and Animal Avatars with Arbitrary Motion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.11286/) (2024)
- [Hough-CNN: Deep Learning for Segmentation of Deep Brain Regions in MRI and Ultrasound](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1601.07014/) (2016)
- [SegReg: Segmenting OARs by Registering MR Images and CT Annotations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.06956/) (2023)
- [KMM: Key Frame Mask Mamba for Extended Motion Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.06481/) (2024)
- [MedConv: Convolutions Beat Transformers on Long-Tailed Bone Density Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.00631/) (2025)
- [ESA: Annotation-Efficient Active Learning for Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.13491/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Barlow-Swin: Toward a novel siamese-based segmentation architecture using Swin-Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.06885/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Segmentation of 3D medical images is a critical task for accurate diagnosis and treatment planning. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have dominated the field, achieving significant success in 3D medical image segmentation. However, CNNs struggle with capturing long-range dependencies and global context, limiting their performance, particularly for fine and complex structures. Recent transformer-based models, such as TransUNet and nnFormer, have demonstrated promise in addressing these limitations, though they still rely on hybrid CNN-transformer architectures. This paper introduces a novel, fully convolutional-free model based on transformer architecture and self-attention mechanisms for 3D medical image segmentation. Our approach focuses on improving multi-semantic segmentation accuracy and addressing domain adaptation challenges between thick and thin slice CT images. We propose a joint loss function that facilitates effective segmentation of thin slices based on thick slice annotations, overcoming limitations in dataset availability. Furthermore, we present a benchmark dataset for multi-semantic segmentation on thin slices, addressing a gap in current medical imaging research. Our experiments demonstrate the superiority of the proposed model over traditional and hybrid architectures, offering new insights into the future of convolution-free medical image segmentation.