Training the next generation of physicians for artificial intelligence-assisted clinical neuroradiology: ASNR MICCAI Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS) 2025 Lighthouse Challenge education platform
This addresses the problem of training future physicians in AI and neuroradiology through hands-on experience, though it is incremental as it builds on existing educational and challenge frameworks.
The paper tackled the challenge of educating medical students and radiology trainees about AI-assisted clinical neuroradiology by developing an educational platform around the BraTS brain tumor segmentation challenge. The result was that 56 participants showed significant improvements in familiarity with segmentation software (from 6.0 to 8.9 on a 10-point scale) and brain tumor features (from 6.2 to 8.1), with 14 coordinators completing 1200 segmentations averaging 1322.9 hours per dataset.
High-quality reference standard image data creation by neuroradiology experts for automated clinical tools can be a powerful tool for neuroradiology & artificial intelligence education. We developed a multimodal educational approach for students and trainees during the MICCAI Brain Tumor Segmentation Lighthouse Challenge 2025, a landmark initiative to develop accurate brain tumor segmentation algorithms. Fifty-six medical students & radiology trainees volunteered to annotate brain tumor MR images for the BraTS challenges of 2023 & 2024, guided by faculty-led didactics on neuropathology MRI. Among the 56 annotators, 14 select volunteers were then paired with neuroradiology faculty for guided one-on-one annotation sessions for BraTS 2025. Lectures on neuroanatomy, pathology & AI, journal clubs & data scientist-led workshops were organized online. Annotators & audience members completed surveys on their perceived knowledge before & after annotations & lectures respectively. Fourteen coordinators, each paired with a neuroradiologist, completed the data annotation process, averaging 1322.9+/-760.7 hours per dataset per pair and 1200 segmentations in total. On a scale of 1-10, annotation coordinators reported significant increase in familiarity with image segmentation software pre- and post-annotation, moving from initial average of 6+/-2.9 to final average of 8.9+/-1.1, and significant increase in familiarity with brain tumor features pre- and post-annotation, moving from initial average of 6.2+/-2.4 to final average of 8.1+/-1.2. We demonstrate an innovative offering for providing neuroradiology & AI education through an image segmentation challenge to enhance understanding of algorithm development, reinforce the concept of data reference standard, and diversify opportunities for AI-driven image analysis among future physicians.