Cross-Layer Connection SegFormer Attention U-Net for Efficient TRUS Image Segmentation

Accurately and rapidly segmenting the prostate in transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) images remains challenging due to the complex semantic information in ultrasound images. The paper discusses a cross-layer connection with SegFormer attention U-Net for efficient TRUS image segmentation. The SegFormer framework is enhanced by reducing model parameters and complexity without sacrificing accuracy. We introduce layer-skipping connections for precise positioning and combine local context with global dependency for superior feature recognition. The decoder is improved with Multi-layer Perceptual Convolutional Block Attention Module (MCBAM) for better upsampling and reduced information loss, leading to increased accuracy. The experimental results show that compared with classic or popular deep learning methods, this method has better segmentation performance, with the dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 97.55% and the intersection over union (IoU) of 95.23%. This approach balances encoder efficiency, multi-layer information flow, and parameter reduction.