A Structural Causal Model for MR Images of Multiple Sclerosis

Jacob C. Reinhold, Aaron Carass, Jerry L. Prince

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Precision medicine involves answering counterfactual questions such as “Would this patient respond better to treatment A or treatment B?” These types of questions are causal in nature and require the tools of causal inference to be answered, e.g., with a structural causal model (SCM). In this work, we develop an SCM that models the interaction between demographic information, disease covariates, and magnetic resonance (MR) images of the brain for people with multiple sclerosis. Inference in the SCM generates counterfactual images that show what an MR image of the brain would look like if demographic or disease covariates are changed. These images can be used for modeling disease progression or used for downstream image processing tasks where controlling for confounders is necessary.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMedical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention – MICCAI 2021 - 24th International Conference, Proceedings
EditorsMarleen de Bruijne, Philippe C. Cattin, Stéphane Cotin, Nicolas Padoy, Stefanie Speidel, Yefeng Zheng, Caroline Essert
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages782-792
Number of pages11
ISBN (Print)9783030872397
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes
Event24th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2021 - Virtual, Online
Duration: Sep 27 2021Oct 1 2021

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume12905 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference24th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2021
CityVirtual, Online
Period9/27/2110/1/21

Keywords

  • Causal inference
  • MRI
  • Multiple sclerosis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

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