Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41749918›Full record

ReviewCancers2026

AI in High-Frequency Micro-Ultrasound: Advancing Prostate Imaging from Segmentation to Cancer Detection.

Ludovica Cella, Marco Paciotti, Pier Paolo Avolio, Vittorio Fasulo, Andrea Piccolini, Rebecca Canneto, Giacomo Cavadini, Luca Di Stefano, Alberto Saita, Paolo Casale and 3 more

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Cancers, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Ludovica CellaDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072 Milan, Italy.
Marco PaciottiDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072 Milan, Italy.
Pier Paolo AvolioDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072 Milan, Italy.
Vittorio FasuloDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072 Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-6155-5964
Andrea PiccoliniDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072 Milan, Italy.ORCID 0009-0004-6601-1244
Rebecca CannetoDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072 Milan, Italy.
Giacomo CavadiniMedical School, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072 Milan, Italy.
Luca Di StefanoDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072 Milan, Italy.ORCID 0009-0002-6295-0071
Alberto SaitaDepartment of Urology, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Via Manzoni 56, Rozzano, 20089 Milan, Italy.
Paolo CasaleDepartment of Urology, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Via Manzoni 56, Rozzano, 20089 Milan, Italy.
Massimo LazzeriDepartment of Urology, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Via Manzoni 56, Rozzano, 20089 Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-4411-3715
Nicolò Maria BuffiDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072 Milan, Italy.
Giovanni LughezzaniDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20072 Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-3939-4521

Funding

Italian Ministry of Health - Ricerca Corrente (IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital) Not applicable
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND/

objectiveHigh-frequency micro-ultrasound (micro-US) offers real-time, high-resolution imaging for prostate cancer. Although artificial intelligence (AI) has shown potential in enhancing micro-US interpretation, a comprehensive review of this emerging field is currently missing. This review synthesizes current evidence on AI applied to ExactVu 29 MHz micro-US for prostate cancer.

methodsPubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library were searched up to December 2025. Studies were included if they applied machine learning or deep learning directly to 29 MHz micro-US data and reported quantitative performance metrics.

resultsTen studies met the inclusion criteria: six on prostate cancer detection, three on prostate segmentation and one on micro-US-histopathology registration. Detection models ranged from classical quantitative ultrasound machine learning to deep architectures using self-supervision, transformers, multiple-instance learning, ensemble calibration and 3D segmentation-based pipelines. Among core-level models for clinically significant cancer, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) values clustered around 0.76-0.81; one lesion-level framework reported an AUROC of 0.92, though at a non-comparable analytical unit. Segmentation studies achieved accurate prostate delineation (Dice similarity coefficient ≈ 0.94), and a single study demonstrated high-precision 3D registration to whole-mount histopathology (Dice similarity coefficient 0.97 and landmark error < 3 mm). All studies evaluated AI on previously acquired data, without real-time clinical implementation.

conclusionsAI for micro-US shows promising and reproducible early results across detection, segmentation and registration, but evidence is still limited. In view of the potential of AI to optimize micro-US utilization and its related advantages, additional efforts are warranted to achieve clinical adoption.

Indexed as

artificial intelligencecancer detectiondeep learningimage segmentationmicro-ultrasoundprostate cancer

Identifiers

PMID41749918
PMCPMC12939672

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.