G-T correcting: an improved training of image segmentation under noisy labels

Data-driven medical image segmentation networks require expert annotations, which are hard to obtain. Non-expert annotations are often used instead, but these can be inaccurate (referred to as “noisy labels”), misleading the network’s training and causing a decline in segmentation performance. In this study, we focus on improving the segmentation performance of neural networks when trained with noisy annotations. Specifically, we propose a two-stage framework named “G-T correcting,” consisting of “G” stage for recognizing noisy labels and “T” stage for correcting noisy labels. In the “G” stage, a positive feedback method is proposed to automatically recognize noisy samples, using a Gaussian mixed model to classify clean and noisy labels through the per-sample loss histogram. In the “T” stage, a confident correcting strategy and early learning strategy are adopted to allow the segmentation network to receive productive guidance from noisy labels. Experiments on simulated and real-world noisy labels show that this method can achieve over 90% accuracy in recognizing noisy labels, and improve the network’s DICE coefficient to 91%. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can enhance the segmentation performance of the network when trained with noisy labels, indicating good clinical application prospects. Graphical Abstract