Deep learning model for the automated detection and classification of central canal and neural foraminal stenosis upon cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging

A deep learning (DL) model that can automatically detect and classify cervical canal and neural foraminal stenosis using cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can improve diagnostic accuracy and efficiency. A method comprising region-of-interest (ROI) detection and cascade prediction was formulated for diagnosing cervical spinal stenosis based on a DL model. First, three part-specific convolutional neural networks were employed to detect the ROIs in different parts of the cervical MR images. Cascade prediction of the stenosis categories was subsequently performed to record the stenosis level and position on each patient slice. Finally, the results were combined to obtain a patient-level diagnostic report. Performance was evaluated based on the accuracy (ACC), area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, F1 Score, diagnosis time of the DL model, and recall rate for ROI detection localization. The average recall rate of the ROI localization was 89.3% (neural foramen) and 99.7% (central canal) under the five-fold cross-validation of the DL model. In the dichotomous classification (normal or mild vs. moderate or severe), the ACC and AUC of the DL model were comparable to those of the radiologists, and the F1 score (84.8%) of the DL model was slightly higher than that of the radiologists (83.8%) for the central canal. Diagnosing whether the central canal or neural foramen of a slice is narrowed in the cervical MRI scan required an average of 15 and 0.098 s for the radiologists and DL model, respectively. The DL model demonstrated comparable performance with subspecialist radiologists for the detection and classification of central canal and neural foraminal stenosis on cervical spine MRI. Moreover, the DL model demonstrated significant timesaving ability.