Research on Deep Learning-Based Semantic Segmentation Algorithms for Subcortical Brain Structures

Segmentation of subcortical brain structures is fundamental to computer-aided diagnosis and treatment in neurology and related clinical fields. To improve the accuracy of subcortical structure segmentation, this thesis develops two related deep learning approaches for brain MR images: DenseMedic and the alternate connected neural network (ACNN). The first part of the work develops DenseMedic. First, the OreoDown method accelerates receptive-field growth by introducing larger convolutional strides at earlier layers and restores network depth by interleaving size-preserving convolutional layers, thereby translating faster receptive-field growth into an effective increase in receptive field. Second, DenseMedic instantiates the OreoDown framework using the construction principle of DenseNet and obtains multiscale contextual information through densely connected feature-extraction operations. The second part develops ACNN. First, alternate connections between layers are proposed to instantiate OreoDown as a single-path ACNN. Second, the single path is divided centrally to form a multipath ACNN without changing the stated parameter count, providing a unified architecture for single- and multimodal segmentation. Experiments were conducted on the public IBSR and MRBrainS18 datasets for subcortical brain segmentation. Performance was evaluated using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), intersection over union (IoU), 95th-percentile Hausdorff surface distance (HSD95), and average surface distance (ASD). The experimental results showed greater regional overlap and closer boundary agreement between the predicted and reference structures, supporting the accuracy and robustness of both methods for the evaluated subcortical structures.