DSTCS: Dual-Student Teacher Framework with Segment Anything Model for Semi-Supervised Pubic Symphysis Fetal Head Segmentation

Abstract

Segmentation of the pubic symphysis and fetal head (PSFH) is a critical procedure in intrapartum monitoring and is essential for evaluating labor progression and identifying potential delivery complications. However, achieving accurate segmentation remains a significant challenge due to class imbalance, ambiguous boundaries, and noise interference in ultrasound images, compounded by the scarcity of high-quality annotated data. Current research on PSFH segmentation predominantly relies on CNN and Transformer architectures, leaving the potential of more powerful models underexplored. In this work, we propose a Dual-Student and Teacher framework combining CNN and SAM (DSTCS), which integrates the Segment Anything Model (SAM) into a dual student-teacher architecture. A cooperative learning mechanism between the CNN and SAM branches significantly improves segmentation accuracy. The proposed scheme also incorporates a specialized data augmentation strategy optimized for boundary processing and a novel loss function. Extensive experiments on the MICCAI 2023 and 2024 PSFH segmentation benchmarks demonstrate that our method exhibits superior robustness and significantly outperforms existing techniques, providing a reliable segmentation tool for clinical practice.