An [18F]FDG-PET/CT deep learning method for fully automated detection of pathological mediastinal lymph nodes in lung cancer patients.

Purpose: The identification of pathological mediastinal lymph nodes is an important step in the staging of lung cancer, with the presence of metastases significantly affecting survival rates. Nodes are currently identified by a physician, but this process is time-consuming and prone to errors. In this paper, we investigate the use of artificial intelligence-based methods to increase the accuracy and consistency of this process.