Optimizing Breast Cancer Detection With an Ensemble Deep Learning Approach

Abstract

In the global fight against breast cancer, the importance of early diagnosis is unparalleled. Early identification not only improves treatment options but also significantly improves survival rates. Our research introduces an innovative ensemble method that synergistically combines the strengths of four state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks (CNNs): EfficientNet, AlexNet, ResNet, and DenseNet. These networks were chosen for their architectural advances and proven efficacy in image classification tasks, particularly in medical imaging. Each network within our ensemble is uniquely optimized: EfficientNet is fine-tuned with customized scaling to address dataset specifics; AlexNet employs a variable dropout mechanism to reduce overfitting; ResNet benefits from learnable weighted skip connections for better gradient flow; and DenseNet uses selective connectivity to balance computational efficiency and feature extraction. This ensembling strategy combines the predictive output of multiple CNNs, each trained with an individually optimized network, to enhance the ensemble’s overall diagnostic performance. This provides higher precision and stability than any model and shows outstanding performance in the early stage of breast cancer with a precision of up to 94.6%, sensitivity of 92.4%, specificity of 96.1%, and area under the curve (AUC) of 98.0%. This ensemble framework indicated a leap in the early diagnosis of breast cancer as it is a powerful tool that combines several state-of-the-art techniques, hence providing better results.