Automatic Segmentation in 3D CT Images: A Comparative Study of Deep Learning Architectures for the Automatic Segmentation of the Abdominal Aorta

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a complex vascular condition associated with high mortality rates. Accurate abdominal aorta segmentation is essential in medical imaging, facilitating diagnosis and treatment for a range of cardiovascular diseases. In this regard, deep learning-based automated segmentation has shown significant promise in the precise delineation of the aorta. However, comparisons across different models remain limited, with most studies performing algorithmic training and testing on the same dataset. Furthermore, due to the variability in AAA presentation, using healthy controls for deep learning AAA segmentation poses a significant challenge. This study provides a detailed comparative analysis of four deep learning architectures—UNet, SegResNet, UNet Transformers (UNETR), and Shifted-Windows UNet Transformers (SwinUNETR)—for full abdominal aorta segmentation. The models were evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively using private and public 3D (Computed Tomography) CT datasets. Moreover, they were successful in attaining high performance in delineating AAA aorta, while being trained on healthy aortic imaging data. Our findings indicate that the UNet architecture achieved the highest segmentation accuracy among the models tested.