A 3D Clinical Face Phenotype Space of Genetic Syndromes Using a Triplet-Based Singular Geometric Autoencoder

Clinical diagnosis of syndromes benefits strongly from objective facial phenotyping. This study introduces a novel approach to enhance clinical diagnosis through the development and exploration of a low-dimensional metric space referred to as the clinical face phenotypic space (CFPS). As a facial ma...

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Main Authors: Soha S. Mahdi, Eduarda Caldeira, Harold Matthews, Michiel Vanneste, Nele Nauwelaers, Meng Yuan, Giorgos Bouritsas, Gareth S. Baynam, Peter Hammond, Richard Spritz, Ophir D. Klein, Michael Bronstein, Benedikt Hallgrimsson, Hilde Peeters, Peter Claes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
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Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10818677/
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author Soha S. Mahdi
Eduarda Caldeira
Harold Matthews
Michiel Vanneste
Nele Nauwelaers
Meng Yuan
Giorgos Bouritsas
Gareth S. Baynam
Peter Hammond
Richard Spritz
Ophir D. Klein
Michael Bronstein
Benedikt Hallgrimsson
Hilde Peeters
Peter Claes
author_facet Soha S. Mahdi
Eduarda Caldeira
Harold Matthews
Michiel Vanneste
Nele Nauwelaers
Meng Yuan
Giorgos Bouritsas
Gareth S. Baynam
Peter Hammond
Richard Spritz
Ophir D. Klein
Michael Bronstein
Benedikt Hallgrimsson
Hilde Peeters
Peter Claes
author_sort Soha S. Mahdi
collection DOAJ
description Clinical diagnosis of syndromes benefits strongly from objective facial phenotyping. This study introduces a novel approach to enhance clinical diagnosis through the development and exploration of a low-dimensional metric space referred to as the clinical face phenotypic space (CFPS). As a facial matching tool for clinical genetics, such CFPS can enhance clinical diagnosis. It helps to interpret facial dysmorphisms of a subject by placing them within the space of known dysmorphisms. In this paper, a triplet loss-based autoencoder developed by geometric deep learning (GDL) is trained using multi-task learning, which combines supervised and unsupervised learning approaches. Experiments are designed to illustrate the following properties of CFPSs that can aid clinicians in narrowing down their search space: a CFPS can 1) classify syndromes accurately, 2) generalize to novel syndromes, and 3) preserve the relatedness of genetic diseases, meaning that clusters of phenotypically similar disorders reflect functional relationships between genes. The proposed model consists of three main components: an encoder based on GDL optimizing distances between groups of individuals in the CFPS, a decoder enhancing classification by reconstructing faces, and a singular value decomposition layer maintaining orthogonality and optimal variance distribution across dimensions. This allows for the selection of an optimal number of CFPS dimensions as well as improving the classification capacity of the CFPS, which outperforms the linear metric learning baseline in both syndrome classification and generalization to novel syndromes. We further proved the usefulness of each component of the proposed framework, highlighting their individual impact. From a clinical perspective, the unique combination of these properties in a single CFPS results in a powerful tool that can be incorporated into current clinical practices to assess facial dysmorphism.INDEX TERMS 3D shape analysis, clinical genetics, computer-aided diagnosis, deep phenotyping, geometric deep learning, precision public health.
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spelling doaj-art-0558fb2d9bf2466db4e2b6b70a15e88b2025-01-15T00:03:14ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-011311510.1109/ACCESS.2024.352442810818677A 3D Clinical Face Phenotype Space of Genetic Syndromes Using a Triplet-Based Singular Geometric AutoencoderSoha S. Mahdi0Eduarda Caldeira1https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4891-0057Harold Matthews2Michiel Vanneste3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0222-5740Nele Nauwelaers4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9763-6106Meng Yuan5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0922-8012Giorgos Bouritsas6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8476-4918Gareth S. Baynam7Peter Hammond8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3208-4459Richard Spritz9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8325-0026Ophir D. Klein10Michael Bronstein11Benedikt Hallgrimsson12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7192-9103Hilde Peeters13Peter Claes14https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9489-9819ETRO, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Ixelles, BelgiumESAT/PSI—UZ Leuven, MIRC, KU Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumESAT/PSI—UZ Leuven, MIRC, KU Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Human Genetics, KU Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumESAT/PSI—UZ Leuven, MIRC, KU Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumESAT/PSI—UZ Leuven, MIRC, KU Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Informatics and Telecommunications, Archimedes AI Unit/Athena RC, University of Athens, Athens, GreeceSchool of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, AustraliaDepartment of Human Genetics, KU Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumSchool of Medicine, Human Medical Genetics and Genomics Program, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USADepartment of Orofacial Sciences, Institute for Human Genetics, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USADepartment of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K.Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, CanadaDepartment of Human Genetics, KU Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumESAT/PSI—UZ Leuven, MIRC, KU Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumClinical diagnosis of syndromes benefits strongly from objective facial phenotyping. This study introduces a novel approach to enhance clinical diagnosis through the development and exploration of a low-dimensional metric space referred to as the clinical face phenotypic space (CFPS). As a facial matching tool for clinical genetics, such CFPS can enhance clinical diagnosis. It helps to interpret facial dysmorphisms of a subject by placing them within the space of known dysmorphisms. In this paper, a triplet loss-based autoencoder developed by geometric deep learning (GDL) is trained using multi-task learning, which combines supervised and unsupervised learning approaches. Experiments are designed to illustrate the following properties of CFPSs that can aid clinicians in narrowing down their search space: a CFPS can 1) classify syndromes accurately, 2) generalize to novel syndromes, and 3) preserve the relatedness of genetic diseases, meaning that clusters of phenotypically similar disorders reflect functional relationships between genes. The proposed model consists of three main components: an encoder based on GDL optimizing distances between groups of individuals in the CFPS, a decoder enhancing classification by reconstructing faces, and a singular value decomposition layer maintaining orthogonality and optimal variance distribution across dimensions. This allows for the selection of an optimal number of CFPS dimensions as well as improving the classification capacity of the CFPS, which outperforms the linear metric learning baseline in both syndrome classification and generalization to novel syndromes. We further proved the usefulness of each component of the proposed framework, highlighting their individual impact. From a clinical perspective, the unique combination of these properties in a single CFPS results in a powerful tool that can be incorporated into current clinical practices to assess facial dysmorphism.INDEX TERMS 3D shape analysis, clinical genetics, computer-aided diagnosis, deep phenotyping, geometric deep learning, precision public health.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10818677/3D Shape AnalysisClinical GeneticsComputer-aided DiagnosisDeep PhenotypingGeometric Deep LearningPrecision Public Health
spellingShingle Soha S. Mahdi
Eduarda Caldeira
Harold Matthews
Michiel Vanneste
Nele Nauwelaers
Meng Yuan
Giorgos Bouritsas
Gareth S. Baynam
Peter Hammond
Richard Spritz
Ophir D. Klein
Michael Bronstein
Benedikt Hallgrimsson
Hilde Peeters
Peter Claes
A 3D Clinical Face Phenotype Space of Genetic Syndromes Using a Triplet-Based Singular Geometric Autoencoder
IEEE Access
3D Shape Analysis
Clinical Genetics
Computer-aided Diagnosis
Deep Phenotyping
Geometric Deep Learning
Precision Public Health
title A 3D Clinical Face Phenotype Space of Genetic Syndromes Using a Triplet-Based Singular Geometric Autoencoder
title_full A 3D Clinical Face Phenotype Space of Genetic Syndromes Using a Triplet-Based Singular Geometric Autoencoder
title_fullStr A 3D Clinical Face Phenotype Space of Genetic Syndromes Using a Triplet-Based Singular Geometric Autoencoder
title_full_unstemmed A 3D Clinical Face Phenotype Space of Genetic Syndromes Using a Triplet-Based Singular Geometric Autoencoder
title_short A 3D Clinical Face Phenotype Space of Genetic Syndromes Using a Triplet-Based Singular Geometric Autoencoder
title_sort 3d clinical face phenotype space of genetic syndromes using a triplet based singular geometric autoencoder
topic 3D Shape Analysis
Clinical Genetics
Computer-aided Diagnosis
Deep Phenotyping
Geometric Deep Learning
Precision Public Health
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10818677/
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