MFD-Net: Modality Fusion Diffractive Network for Segmentation of Multimodal Brain Tumor Image.

Automatic brain tumor segmentation using multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) holds substantial importance for brain diagnosis, monitoring, and therapeutic strategy planning. Given the constraints inherent to manual segmentation, adopting deep learning networks for accomplishing accurate and automated segmentation emerges as an essential advancement. In this article, we propose a modality fusion diffractive network (MFD-Net) composed of diffractive blocks and modality feature extractors for the automatic and accurate segmentation of brain tumors. The diffractive block, designed based on Fraunhofer's single-slit diffraction principle, emphasizes neighboring high-confidence feature points and suppresses low-quality or isolated feature points, enhancing the interrelation of features. Adopting a global passive reception mode overcomes the issue of fixed receptive fields. Through a self-supervised approach, the modality feature extractor effectively utilizes the inherent generalization information of each modality, enabling the main segmentation branch to focus more on multimodal fusion feature information. We apply the diffractive block on nn-UNet in the MICCAI BraTS 2022 challenge, ranked first in the pediatric population data and third in the BraTS continuous evaluation data, proving the superior generalizability of our network. We also train separately on the BraTS 2018, 2019, and 2021 datasets. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed network outperforms state-of-the-art methods.

[Effectiveness comparison of micro-anchor repair and modified pull-out suture in treatment of mallet fingers].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness between micro-anchor repair and modified pull-out suture in the treatment of mallet fingers. METHODS: Between June 2010 and March 2011, 33 patients with mallet fingers were treated by micro-anchor repair method (n = 18, group A) and by modified pull-out suture method in which the broken tendons were sutured with double metal needle Bunnell's suture and a knot was tied palmarly (n = 15, group B). There was no significant difference in age, gender, and disease duration between 2 groups (P > 0.05). RESULTS: The operation time was (62.5 +/- 3.1) minutes in group A and (65.0 +/- 4.6) minutes in group B, showing no significant difference (t = 1.85, P = 0.07). The treatment expense in group A [(8 566.2 +/- 135.0) yuan] was significantly higher than that in group B [(5 297.0 +/- 183.5) yuan] (t = 58.92, P = 0.00). Incision infection occurred in 2 cases of group A and 1 case of group B; the other patients obtained healing of incision by first intention. Relapsed mallet finger was observed in 1 case of group B. All patients in 2 groups were followed up 12-21 months. According to the Crawford functional assessment system, the results were excellent in 5 cases, good in 10 cases, fair in 2 cases, and poor in 1 case at the last follow-up with an excellent and good rate of 83.3% in group A; the results were excellent in 4 cases, good in 9 cases, fair in 1 case, and poor in 1 case with an excellent and good rate of 86.7% in group B. There was no significant difference in the excellent and good rate between 2 groups (chi 2 = 0.23, P = 0.97). CONCLUSION: Both micro-anchor repair and modified pull-out suture are simple and effective methods in the treatment of mallet finger. But compared with micro-anchor repair, pull-out suture has lower expense.