U-R-VEDA: Integrating UNET, Residual Links, Edge and Dual Attention, and Vision Transformer for Accurate Semantic Segmentation of CMRs

Artificial intelligence, including deep learning models, will play a transformative role in automated medical image analysis for the diagnosis of cardiac disorders and their management. Automated accurate delineation of cardiac images is the first necessary initial step for the quantification and automated diagnosis of cardiac disorders. In this paper, we propose a deep learning based enhanced UNet model, U-R-Veda, which integrates convolution transformations, vision transformer, residual links, channel-attention, and spatial attention, together with edge-detection based skip-connections for an accurate fully-automated semantic segmentation of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) images. The model extracts local-features and their interrelationships using a stack of combination convolution blocks, with embedded channel and spatial attention in the convolution block, and vision transformers. Deep embedding of channel and spatial attention in the convolution block identifies important features and their spatial localization. The combined edge information with channel and spatial attention as skip connection reduces information-loss during convolution transformations. The overall model significantly improves the semantic segmentation of CMR images necessary for improved medical image analysis. An algorithm for the dual attention module (channel and spatial attention) has been presented. Performance results show that U-R-Veda achieves an average accuracy of 95.2%, based on DSC metrics. The model outperforms the accuracy attained by other models, based on DSC and HD metrics, especially for the delineation of right-ventricle and left-ventricle-myocardium.