EP23.07: Deep learning prediction of ovarian tumours based on ultrasound images and clinical information compared with radiologist assessment

Deep learning (DL) algorithms could improve the classification of ovarian tumours assessed with ultrasound (US) images and clinical information. This study aimed to develop a DL model for diagnosing ovarian tumours based on US images and clinical information, and to compare the performance of the DL model with radiologist assessment. This study retrospectively collected data from four hospitals involving women who underwent US examinations for ovarian tumours. Additionally, data were prospectively randomly collected from two other hospitals. Histopathological analysis served as the reference standard. The retrospective dataset was divided into training, test and internal validation sets. The prospective dataset was used as an external validation set. A DL model was developed. The performance of the DL model was compared with the eleven radiologists’ assessments in the internal and external validation sets. The performance of radiologists' assessments with or without DL model were also compared. A total of 1518 women (6432 images) with ovarian tumours were collected, including 364 women in the internal validation dataset and 340 women in the external validation dataset. In the external validation dataset, the accuracy for the DL model's classification of benign, borderline, and malignant ovarian tumours were 85.5%, which were comparable to the expert assessments (85.3%, p > 0.05), but significantly higher than the average level of eleven different-experience radiologists (72.5%, p < 0.05). The diagnostic performance of junior and mid-level experienced radiologists were significantly improved after applying the DL model. The DL model developed using US images and clinical information can effectively classify benign, malignant, and borderline ovarian tumours with diagnostic performance comparable to the expert assessment and improving junior and mid-level experienced radiologists.