Training state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms with visible and extended near-infrared multispectral images of skin lesions for the improvement of skin cancer diagnosis

An estimated 60,000 people die annually from skin cancer, predominantly melanoma. The diagnosis of skin lesions primarily relies on visual inspection, but around half of lesions pose diagnostic challenges, often necessitating a biopsy. Non-invasive detection methods like Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CA...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Rey Barroso, Laura|||0000-0002-6305-0609, Vilaseca Ricart, Meritxell|||0000-0001-8166-1617, Royo Royo, Santiago|||0000-0003-0136-8301, Díaz Douton, Fernando|||0000-0003-3699-015X, Lihacova, Ilze, Bondarenko, Andrey, Burgos Fernández, Francisco Javier|||0000-0002-3749-6850
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/424829
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/424829
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15030355
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Skin cancer
Multispectral imaging
Deep learning
Non-invasive diagnosis
Melanoma
Convolutional neural network
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Ciències de la salut::Medicina
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria de la telecomunicació::Processament del senyal::Processament de la imatge i del senyal vídeo
Descripción
Sumario:An estimated 60,000 people die annually from skin cancer, predominantly melanoma. The diagnosis of skin lesions primarily relies on visual inspection, but around half of lesions pose diagnostic challenges, often necessitating a biopsy. Non-invasive detection methods like Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) using Deep Learning (DL) are becoming more prominent. This study focuses on the use of multispectral (MS) imaging to improve skin lesion classification of DL models. We trained two convolutional neural networks (CNNs)—a simple CNN with six two-dimensional (2D) convolutional layers and a custom VGG-16 model with three-dimensional (3D) convolutional layers—using a dataset of MS images. The dataset included spectral cubes from 327 nevi, 112 melanomas, and 70 basal cell carcinomas (BCCs). We compared the performance of the CNNs trained with full spectral cubes versus using only three spectral bands closest to RGB wavelengths. The custom VGG-16 model achieved a classification accuracy of 71% with full spectral cubes and 45% with RGB-simulated images. The simple CNN achieved an accuracy of 83% with full spectral cubes and 36% with RGB-simulated images, demonstrating the added value of spectral information. These results confirm that MS imaging provides complementary information beyond traditional RGB images, contributing to improved classification performance. Although the dataset size remains a limitation, the findings indicate that MS imaging has significant potential for enhancing skin lesion diagnosis, paving the way for further advancements as larger datasets become available.