AI-driven skin cancer detection from smartphone images: A hybrid model using ViT, adaptive thresholding, black-hat transformation, and XGBoost

Abstract

Skin cancer is a significant global public health issue, with millions of new cases identified each year. Recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, especially deep learning, possess considerable potential to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of screening. This study proposes an approach that employs smartphone images, which are preprocessed using adaptive learning and Black-Hat transformation. ViT is utilized for feature extraction, and a stacking model is constructed employing these features in conjunction with image-related variables, like patient age and sex, for final classification. The model’s efficacy in identifying cancer-associated skin diseases was evaluated across six categories of skin lesions: actinic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma, melanoma, nevus, squamous cell carcinoma, and seborrheic keratosis. The suggested model attained an overall accuracy of 97.61%, with a PVV of 96.88%, a recall of 97.63%, and an F1 score of 97.19%, so illustrating its efficacy in detecting malignant skin lesions. This method could greatly aid dermatologists by enhancing diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, reducing delays in identifying the most suspicious lesions, and ultimately reaching more patients in need of timely screenings and patient care, thus saving lives.