Hierarchical Clustering for Image Classification in Dermatology: Towards Mobile Deploying

Stud Health Technol Inform. 2020 Jun 16:270:1303-1304. doi: 10.3233/SHTI200413.

Abstract

In the context of increasing interest in computer-assisted diagnosis for skin lesion images and mobile applications to be used in real life settings, we propose a combined desktop-smartphone solution for dermatological image classification. Hierarchical agglomerative and divisive clustering are both implemented as methods of cluster analysis, with the RGB color histogram as descriptor for a global image analysis. The cosine similarity is employed for classifying the query image in one of the available clusters, characterized by their centroids. The solution has been tested with a public database of dermoscopic images, with an overall accuracy of 0.73, 95%CI (0.58;0.85).

Keywords: Decision support; artificial intelligence; color histogram analysis; melanoma; skin cancer.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Dermatology*
  • Dermoscopy
  • Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Melanoma
  • Skin Neoplasms