Diagnostic Performance of a New Convolutional Neural Network Algorithm for Detecting Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip on Anteroposterior Radiographs.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of a deep learning algorithm for the automated detection of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) on anteroposterior (AP) radiographs.

Materials And Methods: Of 2601 hip AP radiographs, 5076 cropped unilateral hip joint images were used to construct a dataset that was further divided into training (80%), validation (10%), or test sets (10%). Three radiologists were asked to label the hip images as normal or DDH. To investigate the diagnostic performance of the deep learning algorithm, we calculated the receiver operating characteristics (ROC), precision-recall curve (PRC) plots, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) and compared them with the performance of radiologists with different levels of experience.

Results: The area under the ROC plot generated by the deep learning algorithm and radiologists was 0.988 and 0.988-0.919, respectively. The area under the PRC plot generated by the deep learning algorithm and radiologists was 0.973 and 0.618-0.958, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of the proposed deep learning algorithm were 98.0, 98.1, 84.5, and 99.8%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the diagnosis of DDH by the algorithm and the radiologist with experience in pediatric radiology ( = 0.180). However, the proposed model showed higher sensitivity, specificity, and PPV, compared to the radiologist without experience in pediatric radiology ( < 0.001).

Conclusion: The proposed deep learning algorithm provided an accurate diagnosis of DDH on hip radiographs, which was comparable to the diagnosis by an experienced radiologist.