Federated Learning for Renal Tumor Segmentation and Classification on Multi-Center MRI Dataset
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Deep learning (DL) models for accurate renal tumor characterization may benefit from multi-center datasets for improved generalizability; however, data-sharing constraints necessitate privacy-preserving solutions like federated learning (FL).
PURPOSE: To assess the performance and reliability of FL for renal tumor segmentation and classification in multi-institutional MRI datasets.
STUDY TYPE: Retrospective multi-center study.
POPULATION: A total of 987 patients (403 female) from six hospitals were included for analysis. 73% (723/987) had malignant renal tumors, primarily clear cell carcinoma (n = 509). Patients were split into training (n = 785), validation (n = 104), and test (n = 99) sets, stratified across three simulated institutions.
FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: MRI was performed at 1.5 T and 3 T using T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging (CE-T1WI) sequences.
ASSESSMENT: FL and non-FL approaches used nnU-Net for tumor segmentation and ResNet for its classification. FL-trained models across three simulated institutional clients with central weight aggregation, while the non-FL approach used centralized training on the full dataset.
STATISTICAL TESTS: Segmentation was evaluated using Dice coefficients, and classification between malignant and benign lesions was assessed using accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curves (AUCs). FL and non-FL performance was compared using the Wilcoxon test for segmentation Dice and…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a cohort study, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence. Reported size: 987 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Active Learning during Federated Learning for Object Detection
- Fairness-aware federated learning
- Decentralized Federated Learning
- Building a Personally Identifiable Information Recognizer in a Privacy Preserved Manner Using Automated Annotation and Federated Learning
- Preservation of Patient Level Privacy: Federated Classification and Calibration Models
- Efficient explainable federated learning
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.