Rethinking Brain Tumor Segmentation from the Frequency Domain Perspective

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Shao, Minye, Wang, Zeyu, Duan, Haoran, Huang, Yawen, Zhai, Bing, Wang, Shizheng, Long, Yang, Zheng, Yefeng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Shao, Minye
Wang, Zeyu
Duan, Haoran
Huang, Yawen
Zhai, Bing
Wang, Shizheng
Long, Yang
Zheng, Yefeng
author_facet Shao, Minye
Wang, Zeyu
Duan, Haoran
Huang, Yawen
Zhai, Bing
Wang, Shizheng
Long, Yang
Zheng, Yefeng
contents Precise segmentation of brain tumors, particularly contrast-enhancing regions visible in post-contrast MRI (areas highlighted by contrast agent injection), is crucial for accurate clinical diagnosis and treatment planning but remains challenging. However, current methods exhibit notable performance degradation in segmenting these enhancing brain tumor areas, largely due to insufficient consideration of MRI-specific tumor features such as complex textures and directional variations. To address this, we propose the Harmonized Frequency Fusion Network (HFF-Net), which rethinks brain tumor segmentation from a frequency-domain perspective. To comprehensively characterize tumor regions, we develop a Frequency Domain Decomposition (FDD) module that separates MRI images into low-frequency components, capturing smooth tumor contours and high-frequency components, highlighting detailed textures and directional edges. To further enhance sensitivity to tumor boundaries, we introduce an Adaptive Laplacian Convolution (ALC) module that adaptively emphasizes critical high-frequency details using dynamically updated convolution kernels. To effectively fuse tumor features across multiple scales, we design a Frequency Domain Cross-Attention (FDCA) integrating semantic, positional, and slice-specific information. We further validate and interpret frequency-domain improvements through visualization, theoretical reasoning, and experimental analyses. Extensive experiments on four public datasets demonstrate that HFF-Net achieves an average relative improvement of 4.48\% (ranging from 2.39\% to 7.72\%) in the mean Dice scores across the three major subregions, and an average relative improvement of 7.33% (ranging from 5.96% to 8.64%) in the segmentation of contrast-enhancing tumor regions, while maintaining favorable computational efficiency and clinical applicability. Code: https://github.com/VinyehShaw/HFF.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_10142
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Rethinking Brain Tumor Segmentation from the Frequency Domain Perspective
Shao, Minye
Wang, Zeyu
Duan, Haoran
Huang, Yawen
Zhai, Bing
Wang, Shizheng
Long, Yang
Zheng, Yefeng
Image and Video Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Precise segmentation of brain tumors, particularly contrast-enhancing regions visible in post-contrast MRI (areas highlighted by contrast agent injection), is crucial for accurate clinical diagnosis and treatment planning but remains challenging. However, current methods exhibit notable performance degradation in segmenting these enhancing brain tumor areas, largely due to insufficient consideration of MRI-specific tumor features such as complex textures and directional variations. To address this, we propose the Harmonized Frequency Fusion Network (HFF-Net), which rethinks brain tumor segmentation from a frequency-domain perspective. To comprehensively characterize tumor regions, we develop a Frequency Domain Decomposition (FDD) module that separates MRI images into low-frequency components, capturing smooth tumor contours and high-frequency components, highlighting detailed textures and directional edges. To further enhance sensitivity to tumor boundaries, we introduce an Adaptive Laplacian Convolution (ALC) module that adaptively emphasizes critical high-frequency details using dynamically updated convolution kernels. To effectively fuse tumor features across multiple scales, we design a Frequency Domain Cross-Attention (FDCA) integrating semantic, positional, and slice-specific information. We further validate and interpret frequency-domain improvements through visualization, theoretical reasoning, and experimental analyses. Extensive experiments on four public datasets demonstrate that HFF-Net achieves an average relative improvement of 4.48\% (ranging from 2.39\% to 7.72\%) in the mean Dice scores across the three major subregions, and an average relative improvement of 7.33% (ranging from 5.96% to 8.64%) in the segmentation of contrast-enhancing tumor regions, while maintaining favorable computational efficiency and clinical applicability. Code: https://github.com/VinyehShaw/HFF.
title Rethinking Brain Tumor Segmentation from the Frequency Domain Perspective
topic Image and Video Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.10142