ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the accuracy and clinical application value of a Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning framework (MARL framework) in three-dimensional ultrasound to automatically locate the coronal plane of the uterus.Methods:A total of 144 female patients who underwent routine gynecological examinations in Luohu People′s Hospital during May 2020 were selected as the experimental subjects. The three-dimensional volume data of the uterus of all the experimental subjects were collected by using the Resona-8 high-end color Doppler ultrasound system. A sonographer with more than 5 years of clinical experience manually locate the coronal plane of the uterus in all collected data, and at the same time automatically locate the coronal plane of the uterus MARL framework. The coronal plane images of the uterus obtained by the two methods were saved, and the operation time of the two methods was recorded. The coronal plane uterine images obtained by the two methods were mixed together, and the images were scored 0-1 by two senior ultrasound experts in a double-blind manner. The average score greater than or equal to 0.6 points was considered qualified.Results:①In 144 volunteers, among the coronal planes of the uterus located by the two methods, 131 were qualified by the manual method, and 137 were qualified by the automatic method.There was no statistical difference between the manual and automatic coronal plane images of the uterus (χ 2=1.934, P=0.164) by the chi-square test. ②Using interquartile range analysis, the median and interquartile range of the image score of the automatic group was 0.80(0.75, 0.90), while the median and interquartile range of the image score of the manual group was 0.80(0.75, 0.90). The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to analyze the quality of the coronal plane images obtained by manual and automatic methods, and the difference was not statistically significant ( Z=1.241, P=0.215). ③The paired t test was used to compare the time required to locate the coronal surface of the uterus, by manual method (63.65±10.182)s, by automatic method (3.25±0.294)s, the difference between the two methods was statistically significant ( t=19.52, P<0.001). Conclusions:The method based on MARL framework has a high correlation with the manual locating of the coronal plane of uterus in three-dimensional ultrasound, and greatly reduces the operation time. It can be effectively applied in clinical practice and lays a foundation for the automatic diagnosis of uterine related diseases.