Slice-Level Label Attention with Global-Guided Attention Regularization for Multi-Label Classification in Knee MRI Sequences

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is crucial for diagnosing various knee-related diseases, and developing automatic diagnostic models based on knee MRI data is highly valuable. However, this task presents significant challenges due to the need to manage MRI data with multiple sequences and numerous images, where different diseases are often associated with specific images within certain sequences. To address these challenges, we propose a multi-label classification framework designed to effectively process MRI data and handle a large-scale label space encompassing hundreds of disease categories. Our approach introduces a Slice-Level Label Attention mechanism, which enables the model to learn the alignment between labels and images within sequences, thereby enhancing both performance and interpretability. Additionally, we present a Global-Guided Attention Regularization mechanism that further improves the consistency and robustness of the Slice-Level Label Attention results. We validate our framework on a large-scale MRI dataset involving multi-label classification across hundreds of fine-grained disease categories. Experimental results demonstrate that our method not only achieves superior performance but also provides more robust and consistent interpretability.