Transfer learning method for prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of biliary atresia

Abstract

Biliary atresia (BA) is a rare and severe congenital disorder with a significant challenge for prenatal diagnosis. This study, registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2200059705), aimed to develop an intelligent model to aid in the prenatal diagnosis of BA. To develop and evaluate this model, fetuses from 20 hospitals across China and infants sourced from public database were collected. The transfer-learning model (TLM) demonstrated superior diagnostic performance compared to the basic deep-learning model, with higher area under the curves of 0.906 (95%CI: 0.872–0.940) vs 0.793 (0.743–0.843), 0.914 (0.875–0.953) vs 0.790 (0.727–0.853), and 0.907 (0.869–0.945) vs 0.880 (0.838–0.922) for the three independent test cohorts. Furthermore, when aided by the TLM, diagnostic accuracy surpassed that of individual sonologists alone. The TLM achieved satisfactory performance in predicting fetal BA, providing a low-cost, easily accessible, and accurate diagnostic tool for this condition, making it an effective aid in clinical practice.