# Foundation Model-Enabled Efficient Data Sampling (FEEDS): A label-efficient training strategy for pan-cancer, multi-tracer PET/CT datasets

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.11076 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.11076/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 35 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 11 Aug 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [DINOv2: Learning Robust Visual Features without Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07193/) (2023)
- [Evaluating General Purpose Vision Foundation Models for Medical Image Analysis: An Experimental Study of DINOv2 on Radiology Benchmarks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.02366/) (2023)
- [From FDG to PSMA: A Hitchhiker's Guide to Multitracer, Multicenter Lesion Segmentation in PET/CT Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.09478/) (2024)
- [SegAnyPET: Universal Promptable Segmentation from Positron Emission Tomography Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.14351/) (2025)
- [Active Learning on Medical Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.01827/) (2023)
- [Cross Attention Transformers for Multi-modal Unsupervised Whole-Body PET Anomaly Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07147/) (2023)
- [The autoPET3 Challenge: Automated Lesion Segmentation in Whole-Body PET/CT unicodex2013 Multitracer Multicenter Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.05775/) (2026)
- [Semi-supervised learning towards automated segmentation of PET images with limited annotations: Application to lymphoma patients](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09908/) (2022)

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

- [MUST-PET: MUltimodal Self-supervised learning across Tracers for whole-body PET/CT-based lesion segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.19666/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Automated lesion segmentation in whole-body PET/CT imaging can assist clinicians with cancer detection, staging, and treatment planning across radiotracers and cancer types. However, training lesion segmentation models that capture variations in lesion size, distribution, and appearance requires large annotated datasets, whose creation is both time- and expertise-intensive. As a result, models trained on limited labeled PET/CT data often lack the accuracy and generalizability needed for clinical use. We present FEEDS (Foundation model-Enabled Efficient Data Sampling), a label- and compute-efficient learning strategy that uses vision foundation model embeddings to select the most informative and diverse unlabeled cases for expert annotation. Unlike unsupervised, semi-supervised, and active learning approaches, FEEDS is a one-step training paradigm requiring only a limited, representative training set, making it label- and compute-efficient. We train and validate FEEDS using the AutoPET-III dataset. We test its accuracy and generalizability on three held-out sets: AutoPET-III, DeepPSMA, and an internal Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center dataset. We evaluate clinical utility at the voxel, lesion, and anatomic region level to assess performance in high-risk areas and treatment planning utility. FEEDS outperforms random-sampling-based labeling, pseudolabel-based semi-supervised learning, and training with limited labeled data alone. It generalizes across all three test sets, FDG and PSMA tracers, and multiple diseases, matching fully-labeled (100%) training performance with 70% less annotation burden. FEEDS addresses the challenge of label scarcity in an automatic lesion segmentation framework by providing a practical approach for constructing representative and diverse annotation queues from large, unannotated clinical repositories.