Synthetic Poisoning Attacks: The Impact of Poisoned MRI Image on U-Net Brain Tumor Segmentation

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Main Authors: Li, Tianhao, Zeng, Tianyu, Zheng, Yujia, Zhang, Chulong, Lu, Jingyu, Huang, Haotian, Chu, Chuangxin, Yin, Fang-Fang, Yang, Zhenyu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Li, Tianhao
Zeng, Tianyu
Zheng, Yujia
Zhang, Chulong
Lu, Jingyu
Huang, Haotian
Chu, Chuangxin
Yin, Fang-Fang
Yang, Zhenyu
author_facet Li, Tianhao
Zeng, Tianyu
Zheng, Yujia
Zhang, Chulong
Lu, Jingyu
Huang, Haotian
Chu, Chuangxin
Yin, Fang-Fang
Yang, Zhenyu
contents Deep learning-based medical image segmentation models, such as U-Net, rely on high-quality annotated datasets to achieve accurate predictions. However, the increasing use of generative models for synthetic data augmentation introduces potential risks, particularly in the absence of rigorous quality control. In this paper, we investigate the impact of synthetic MRI data on the robustness and segmentation accuracy of U-Net models for brain tumor segmentation. Specifically, we generate synthetic T1-contrast-enhanced (T1-Ce) MRI scans using a GAN-based model with a shared encoding-decoding framework and shortest-path regularization. To quantify the effect of synthetic data contamination, we train U-Net models on progressively "poisoned" datasets, where synthetic data proportions range from 16.67% to 83.33%. Experimental results on a real MRI validation set reveal a significant performance degradation as synthetic data increases, with Dice coefficients dropping from 0.8937 (33.33% synthetic) to 0.7474 (83.33% synthetic). Accuracy and sensitivity exhibit similar downward trends, demonstrating the detrimental effect of synthetic data on segmentation robustness. These findings underscore the importance of quality control in synthetic data integration and highlight the risks of unregulated synthetic augmentation in medical image analysis. Our study provides critical insights for the development of more reliable and trustworthy AI-driven medical imaging systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_03825
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Synthetic Poisoning Attacks: The Impact of Poisoned MRI Image on U-Net Brain Tumor Segmentation
Li, Tianhao
Zeng, Tianyu
Zheng, Yujia
Zhang, Chulong
Lu, Jingyu
Huang, Haotian
Chu, Chuangxin
Yin, Fang-Fang
Yang, Zhenyu
Image and Video Processing
Cryptography and Security
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Deep learning-based medical image segmentation models, such as U-Net, rely on high-quality annotated datasets to achieve accurate predictions. However, the increasing use of generative models for synthetic data augmentation introduces potential risks, particularly in the absence of rigorous quality control. In this paper, we investigate the impact of synthetic MRI data on the robustness and segmentation accuracy of U-Net models for brain tumor segmentation. Specifically, we generate synthetic T1-contrast-enhanced (T1-Ce) MRI scans using a GAN-based model with a shared encoding-decoding framework and shortest-path regularization. To quantify the effect of synthetic data contamination, we train U-Net models on progressively "poisoned" datasets, where synthetic data proportions range from 16.67% to 83.33%. Experimental results on a real MRI validation set reveal a significant performance degradation as synthetic data increases, with Dice coefficients dropping from 0.8937 (33.33% synthetic) to 0.7474 (83.33% synthetic). Accuracy and sensitivity exhibit similar downward trends, demonstrating the detrimental effect of synthetic data on segmentation robustness. These findings underscore the importance of quality control in synthetic data integration and highlight the risks of unregulated synthetic augmentation in medical image analysis. Our study provides critical insights for the development of more reliable and trustworthy AI-driven medical imaging systems.
title Synthetic Poisoning Attacks: The Impact of Poisoned MRI Image on U-Net Brain Tumor Segmentation
topic Image and Video Processing
Cryptography and Security
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.03825