ISSN: 2979-9236|DOI: 10.58190/imiens|Open Access|Peer-Reviewed
Intelligent Methods In Engineering Sciences
Research Articleslock_openOpen AccessPeer-Reviewed Article

Dual-Scale Transformer-Guided Attention Network for Efficient Multi-OAR Segmentation in Head and Neck Radiotherapy

Uzma Nawaz
Hafiz Muhammad Ubaidullah
Zubair Saeed
Chaudhry Muhammad Ali Nawaz
Publication Date
August 31, 2025
Volume / Issue
Vol. 4, Issue 2 (pp. 38-53)
Dual-Scale Transformer-Guided Attention Network for Efficient Multi-OAR Segmentation in Head and Neck Radiotherapy
imageArticle Graphic / Cover

Dual-Scale Transformer-Guided Attention Network for Efficient Multi-OAR Segmentation in Head and Neck Radiotherapy

Official publication asset for Intelligent Methods In Engineering Sciences

subjectAbstract

Accurate segmentation of organ-at-risk (OARs) in head and neck CT images is crucial for radiotherapy planning, but it remains a challenging task due to anatomical complexity, low soft-tissue contrast, and the presence of small, variable structures. We propose DSTANet, a novel dual-scale transformer-guided attention network that integrates multi-resolution encoding, transformer-based global context fusion, and anatomically guided attention refinement to deliver precise multi-OAR segmentation. Unlike traditional CNN-based methods, DSTANet effectively models long-range spatial dependencies while preserving high-resolution boundary detail. On the HNSCC-3DCT-RT dataset, DSTANet achieved a mean Dice Score of 97.5% and a mean 95th percentile Hausdorff Distance (HD95) of 2.32 mm, while on the MICCAI 2015 benchmark dataset, it achieved 90.0% Dice, which surpasses several state-of-the-art approaches both in terms of overlap and geometric accuracy. These results, combined with a sub-20-second inference time, establish DSTANet as a robust and clinically viable solution for automated head and neck OAR segmentation.

Keywords:Deep LearningsegmentationOrgan-at-riskCT imagesconvolutional neural networksdual-scale transformer-guided attention network

Author Information & Affiliations

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How to Cite this Article

Nawaz, U., Ubaidullah, H. M., Saeed, Z., Ali Nawaz, C. M. (2025). Dual-Scale Transformer-Guided Attention Network for Efficient Multi-OAR Segmentation in Head and Neck Radiotherapy. Intelligent Methods In Engineering Sciences, 38-53. https://doi.org/10.58190/imiens.2025.126