Synthesis of glioma histopathology images using generative adversarial networks

Abstract

Deep learning, a subset of artificial intelligence, has shown great potential in several recent applications to pathology. These have mainly involved the use of classifiers to diagnose disease, while generative modelling techniques have been less frequently used. Generative adversarial networks (GANs) are a type of deep learning model that has been used to synthesize realistic images in a range of domains, both general purpose and medical. In the GAN framework, a generator network is trained to synthesize fake images, while a dueling discriminator network aims to distinguish between the fake images and a set of real training images. As GAN training progresses, the generator network ideally learns the important features of a dataset, allowing it to create images that the discriminator cannot distinguish from the real ones. We report on our use of GANs to synthesize high resolution, realistic histopathology images of gliomas. The well- known Progressive GAN framework was trained on a set of image patches extracted from digital slides in the Cancer Genome Atlas repository, and was able to generate fake images that were visually indistinguishable from the real training images. Generative modelling in pathology has numerous potential applications, including dataset augmentation for training deep learning classifiers, image processing, and expanding educational material.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This presentation will enable the learner to:

1. 1. Explain basic principles of generative modelling in deep learning.

2. 2. Discuss applications of deep learning to neuropathology image synthesis.