# Model Agnostic Preference Optimization for Medical Image Segmentation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.15009 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.15009/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 42 of its 59 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 17 Dec 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 42)

- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02155/) (2022)
- [Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.06347/) (2017)
- [Segment Anything](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02643/) (2023)
- [Direct Preference Optimization: Your Language Model is Secretly a Reward Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.18290/) (2023)
- [Momentum Contrast for Unsupervised Visual Representation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.05722/) (2019)
- [Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for Fast Adaptation of Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.03400/) (2017)
- [Training a Helpful and Harmless Assistant with Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.05862/) (2022)
- [Constitutional AI: Harmlessness from AI Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.08073/) (2022)
- [V-Net: Fully Convolutional Neural Networks for Volumetric Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.04797/) (2016)
- [TransUNet: Transformers Make Strong Encoders for Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04306/) (2021)
- [Attention U-Net: Learning Where to Look for the Pancreas](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.03999/) (2018)
- [Swin-Unet: Unet-like Pure Transformer for Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.05537/) (2021)
- [A General Theoretical Paradigm to Understand Learning from Human Preferences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.12036/) (2023)
- [Kvasir-SEG: A Segmented Polyp Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.07069/) (2019)
- [ORPO: Monolithic Preference Optimization without Reference Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.07691/) (2024)
- [RRHF: Rank Responses to Align Language Models with Human Feedback without tears](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.05302/) (2023)
- [Uncertainty-aware Self-ensembling Model for Semi-supervised 3D Left Atrium Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.07034/) (2019)
- [Domain Adaptation for Medical Image Analysis: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.09508/) (2021)
- [nnU-Net: Self-adapting Framework for U-Net-Based Medical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.10486/) (2018)
- [Segment Anything Model for Medical Image Analysis: an Experimental Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.10517/) (2023)
- [Tversky loss function for image segmentation using 3D fully convolutional deep networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.05721/) (2017)
- [Cross-Entropy Loss Functions: Theoretical Analysis and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07288/) (2023)
- [Can AI help in screening Viral and COVID-19 pneumonia?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.13145/) (2020)
- [Boundary loss for highly unbalanced segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.07032/) (2018)
- [Models Genesis: Generic Autodidactic Models for 3D Medical Image Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.06912/) (2019)
- [Shape-aware Semi-supervised 3D Semantic Segmentation for Medical Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.10732/) (2020)
- [Reducing the Hausdorff Distance in Medical Image Segmentation with Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.10030/) (2019)
- [MISSFormer: An Effective Medical Image Segmentation Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.07162/) (2021)
- [Large-Vocabulary Segmentation for Medical Images with Text Prompts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.17183/) (2023)

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

- [Region-Normalized DPO for Medical Image Segmentation under Noisy Judges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.23222/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Preference optimization offers a scalable supervision paradigm based on relative preference signals, yet prior attempts in medical image segmentation remain model-specific and rely on low-diversity prediction sampling. In this paper, we propose MAPO (Model-Agnostic Preference Optimization), a training framework that utilizes Dropout-driven stochastic segmentation hypotheses to construct preference-consistent gradients without direct ground-truth supervision. MAPO is fully architecture- and dimensionality-agnostic, supporting 2D/3D CNN and Transformer-based segmentation pipelines. Comprehensive evaluations across diverse medical datasets reveal that MAPO consistently enhances boundary adherence, reduces overfitting, and yields more stable optimization dynamics compared to conventional supervised training.