MeshConv3D: Efficient convolution and pooling operators for triangular 3D meshes

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been pivotal in various 2D image analysis tasks, including computer vision, image indexing and retrieval or semantic classification. Extending CNNs to 3D data such as point clouds and 3D meshes raises significant challenges since the very basic convolution and pooling operators need to be completely re-visited and re-defined in an appropriate manner to tackle irregular connectivity issues. In this paper, we introduce MeshConv3D, a 3D mesh-dedicated methodology integrating specialized convolution and face collapse-based pooling operators. MeshConv3D operates directly on meshes of arbitrary topology, without any need of prior re-meshing/conversion techniques. In order to validate our approach, we have considered a semantic classification task. The experimental results obtained on three distinct benchmark datasets show that the proposed approach makes it possible to achieve equivalent or superior classification results, while minimizing the related memory footprint and computational load.

Diff-Lung: Diffusion-Based Texture Synthesis for Enhanced Pathological Tissue Segmentation in Lung CT Scans

Accurate quantification of the extent of lung pathological patterns (fibrosis, ground-glass opacity, emphysema, consolidation) is prerequisite for diagnosis and follow-up of interstitial lung diseases. However, segmentation is challenging due to the significant class imbalance between healthy and pathological tissues. This paper addresses this issue by leveraging a diffusion model for data augmentation applied during training an AI model. Our approach generates synthetic pathological tissue patches while preserving essential shape characteristics and intricate details specific to each tissue type. This method enhances the segmentation process by increasing the occurence of underrepresented classes in the training data. We demonstrate that our diffusion-based augmentation technique improves segmentation accuracy across all pathological tissue types, particularly for the less common patterns. This advancement contributes to more reliable automated analysis of lung CT scans, potentially improving clinical decision-making and patient outcomes