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AUTOMATIC DETECTION OF FACIAL LOCATIONS TO MEASURE FACIAL ASYMMETRY AFTER PAEDIATRIC RADIOTHERAPY

Research output: Contribution to journalMeeting Abstract

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:sec> <jats:title>AIMS</jats:title> <jats:p>Children receiving radiotherapy for head and neck tumours, such as Head and Neck Rhabdomyosarcoma (HN- RMS), often experience facial asymmetry later in life. Here, we present a convolutional neural network (CNN) that will enable the automatic detection of facial anatomical landmarks on MR images taken during follow-up examinations. This model will facilitate quantitative tracking of facial asymmetry, thus revealing the centres of growth that are most affected by radiation, with the ultimate goal of defining precise dose tolerance levels.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>METHOD</jats:title> <jats:p>A dataset of 61 paediatric MRI images was used to train separate models that infer the locations of four facial landmarks. These locations had previously been manually labelled by two independent observers. Before training, the images were normalised and registered to optimise model performance. The model was judged to be of acceptable accuracy if the distances between the observed landmark (gold-standard location) and the location predicted by the trained models were smaller than the inter-observer distances of each facial landmark.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>RESULTS</jats:title> <jats:p>The model predicted landmarks which were closer to the gold-standard location than the inter-observer locations. In detail:</jats:p> <jats:p>• Optic chiasm: 0.81 ± 0.45 mm (inter-observer 1.49 mm).</jats:p> <jats:p>• Nasion: 0.70 ± 0.62 mm (inter-observer 3.24 mm).</jats:p> <jats:p>• Left Ectoconchion: 1.22 ± 0.44 mm (inter-observer 3.58 mm).</jats:p> <jats:p>• Right Ectoconchion: 0.80 ± 0.82 mm (inter-observer 4.04 mm).</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>CONCLUSIONS</jats:title> <jats:p>This research shows promising potential for a CNN to accurately locate head and neck landmarks in paediatric MRI images. This tool can label craniofacial landmarks in large clinical datasets quicker and more accurately than can be achieved through manual techniques.</jats:p> </jats:sec>
Original languageEnglish
JournalNeuro-Oncology
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Sept 2023

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