Abstract
Conditional segmentation models may be trained and eval-
uated with auxiliary signals cleaner than those available at deployment.
We study this protocol-level manifestation of shortcut learning and
auxiliary-variable shift in phase-conditioned echocardiographic segmen-
tation. The complementary gap pair (∆oe , ∆or ) measures loss on the
deployable oracle–estimated pathway and probes sensitivity on the
oracle–random pathway. On held-out CAMUS data, one strong-cyclic,
oracle-selected run fails severely with estimated phase, while sensitivity
to incorrect phase persists across three runs. On EchoNet-Dynamic,
the current estimator remains usable, but random-phase testing re-
veals strong latent sensitivity. Deployment-aware checkpoint selection
and phase perturbation reduce both gaps with little change in mean
Dice. Exploratory subgroup analyses quantify variation across measured
strata, and a downstream ejection-fraction (EF) audit shows that re-
covering segmentation does not necessarily recover EF error or signed
bias. Together, the gaps test whether oracle-conditioned performance
survives the inference pathway actually available at deployment. Code:
GitHub repository.
Links to Paper and Supplementary Materials
Main Paper (Open Access Version): https://papers.miccai.org/miccai-2026-sat/paper/FAIMI-BRIDGE-EPIMI_012.pdf
SharedIt Link: Not yet available
SpringerLink (DOI): Not yet available
Supplementary Material: Not Submitted
Link to Open Review
Open Review Page: https://openreview.net/forum?id=voE41AMdP9&nesting=2&sort=date-desc
BibTex
@InProceedings{CaoDan_When_FAIMIBRIDGEEPIMI_MICCAISAT2026,
author = { Cao, Dang P. M. AND Pham, Hieu D. AND Pham, Hieu},
title = { { When Oracle Conditioning Misleads Deployment: Conditioning-Availability Bias in Echocardiographic Segmentation } },
booktitle = {Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention -- MICCAI 2026 Workshops and Challenges},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Springer Nature Switzerland},
volume = {LNCS 17279},
month = {pending},
page = {pending}
}