Intelligent detection and grading diagnosis of fresh rib fractures based on deep learning

Background Accurate detection and grading of fresh rib fractures are crucial for patient management but remain challenging due to the complexity of rib structures on CT images. Methods Chest CT images from 383 patients with rib fractures were retrospectively analyzed. The dataset was divided into a training set (n = 306) and an internal testing set (n = 77). An external testing set of 50 patients from the public RibFrac dataset was included. Fractures were classified into severe and non-severe categories. A modified YOLO-based deep learning model was developed for detection and grading. Performance was compared with thoracic surgeons using precision, recall, mAP50, and F1 score. Results The deep learning model showed excellent performance in diagnosing fresh rib fractures. For all fractures types in internal test set, the precision, recall, mAP50, and F1 score were 0.963, 0.934, 0.972, and 0.948, respectively. The model outperformed thoracic surgeons of varying experience levels (all p < 0.01). Conclusion The proposed deep learning model can automatically detect and grade fresh rib fractures with accuracy comparable to that of physicians. This model helps improve diagnostic accuracy, reduce physician workload, save medical resources, and strengthen health care in resource-limited areas.