{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,14]],"date-time":"2025-10-14T13:11:43Z","timestamp":1760447503163,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":88,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1760313600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"ITMO University Research Projects in AI Initiative","award":["640113"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["640113"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Imaging"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Timely identification and accurate delineation of ultra-early ischemic stroke lesions in non-contrast computed tomography (CT) scans of the human brain are of paramount importance for prompt medical intervention and improved patient outcomes. In this study, we propose a deep learning-driven methodology specifically designed for segmenting ultra-early ischemic regions, with a particular emphasis on both the ischemic core and the surrounding penumbra during the initial stages of stroke progression. We introduce a lightweight preprocessing model based on convolutional filtering techniques, which enhances image clarity while preserving the structural integrity of medical scans, a critical factor when detecting subtle signs of ultra-early ischemic strokes. Unlike conventional preprocessing methods that directly modify the image and may introduce artifacts or distortions, our approach ensures the absence of neural network-induced artifacts, which is especially crucial for accurate diagnosis and segmentation of ultra-early ischemic lesions. The model employs predefined differentiable filters with trainable parameters, allowing for artifact-free and precision-enhanced image refinement tailored to the challenges of ultra-early stroke detection. In addition, we incorporated into the combined preprocessing pipeline a newly proposed trainable linear combination of pretrained image filters, a concept first introduced in this study. For model training and evaluation, we utilize a publicly available dataset of acute ischemic stroke cases, focusing on the subset relevant to ultra-early stroke manifestations, which contains annotated non-contrast CT brain scans from 112 patients. The proposed model demonstrates high segmentation accuracy for ultra-early ischemic regions, surpassing existing methodologies across key performance metrics. The results have been rigorously validated on test subsets from the dataset, confirming the effectiveness of our approach in supporting the early-stage diagnosis and treatment planning for ultra-early ischemic strokes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jimaging11100359","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,14]],"date-time":"2025-10-14T10:37:14Z","timestamp":1760438234000},"page":"359","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Non-Contrast Brain CT Images Segmentation Enhancement: Lightweight Pre-Processing Model for Ultra-Early Ischemic Lesion Recognition and Segmentation"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6839-3558","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aleksei","family":"Samarin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Higher School of Digital Culture, ITMO University, St. Petersburg 197101, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-8348-4731","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexander","family":"Savelev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Radio Engineering and Telecommunications, St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University \u201cLETI\u201d, St. Petersburg 197022, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-7555-9446","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aleksei","family":"Toropov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Higher School of Digital Culture, ITMO University, St. Petersburg 197101, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-7986-5687","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aleksandra","family":"Dozortseva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiological Synthesis Technology, St. Petersburg State Institute of Technology, St. Petersburg 190013, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-9835-0584","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Egor","family":"Kotenko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Higher School of Digital Culture, ITMO University, St. Petersburg 197101, Russia"},{"name":"Mathematics and Mechanics Faculty, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 198504, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-8758-9383","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Artem","family":"Nazarenko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Higher School of Digital Culture, ITMO University, St. Petersburg 197101, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4241-4298","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexander","family":"Motyko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Radio Engineering and Telecommunications, St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University \u201cLETI\u201d, St. Petersburg 197022, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-2590-3894","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Galiya","family":"Narova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Higher School of Digital Culture, ITMO University, St. Petersburg 197101, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4650-7566","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elena","family":"Mikhailova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Higher School of Digital Culture, ITMO University, St. Petersburg 197101, Russia"},{"name":"Mathematics and Mechanics Faculty, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 198504, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4508-2527","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valentin","family":"Malykh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Higher School of Digital Culture, ITMO University, St. Petersburg 197101, Russia"},{"name":"Information Systems Department, International IT University, Almaty 050000, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2025, June 21). 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