Transforming medical imaging with Transformers? A comparative review of key properties, current progresses, and future perspectives

Jun Li, Junyu Chen, Yucheng Tang, Ce Wang, Bennett A. Landman, S. Kevin Zhou

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Transformer, one of the latest technological advances of deep learning, has gained prevalence in natural language processing or computer vision. Since medical imaging bear some resemblance to computer vision, it is natural to inquire about the status quo of Transformers in medical imaging and ask the question: can the Transformer models transform medical imaging? In this paper, we attempt to make a response to the inquiry. After a brief introduction of the fundamentals of Transformers, especially in comparison with convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and highlighting key defining properties that characterize the Transformers, we offer a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art Transformer-based approaches for medical imaging and exhibit current research progresses made in the areas of medical image segmentation, recognition, detection, registration, reconstruction, enhancement, etc. In particular, what distinguishes our review lies in its organization based on the Transformer's key defining properties, which are mostly derived from comparing the Transformer and CNN, and its type of architecture, which specifies the manner in which the Transformer and CNN are combined, all helping the readers to best understand the rationale behind the reviewed approaches. We conclude with discussions of future perspectives.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number102762
JournalMedical image analysis
Volume85
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2023

Keywords

  • Medical imaging
  • Survey
  • Transformer

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Radiological and Ultrasound Technology
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Health Informatics
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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