MCT-Net: a multi-branch hybrid CNN-transformer model for medical image segmentation

In recent years, neural networks have demonstrated substantial progress in medical image segmentation. However, accurately segmenting objects in medical images is often restricted by edge blurring, which complicates the delineation of structures of interest. The purpose of this study is to develop a multi-branch hybrid CNN-transformer model to address the issue of edge blurring in medical image segmentation. This approach enables more precise edge detection and segmentation. Integrating hybrid CNN and transformer decoders facilitates detailed recovery while preserving global structures, thus minimizing errors in regions with blurred edges. Additionally, we incorporate a hybrid attention mechanism at the model’s bottleneck to enhance feature transfer between the encoder and decoder. The model was trained using the ACDC, Synapse, and polyp datasets, with a focus on improving segmentation accuracy in regions with blurry edges. Experimental results reveal that the proposed model surpasses existing state-of-the-art methods on the ACDC, Synapse, and polyp datasets, demonstrating its superior performance and effectiveness. These results suggest that the proposed model offers a significant improvement in handling edge blurring, with potential applications in enhancing medical image analysis and diagnostics.