Skin Lesions Classification and Segmentation: A Review

Abstract

An automated intelligent system based on imaging input for unbiased diagnosis of skin-related diseases is an essential screening tool nowadays. This is because visual and manual analysis of skin lesion conditions based on images is a time-consuming process that puts a significant workload on health practitioners. Various machine learning and deep learning techniques have been researched to reduce and alleviate the workloads. In several early studies, the standard machine learning techniques are the more popular approach, which is in contrast to the recent studies that rely more on the deep learning approach. Although the recent deep learning approach, mainly based on convolutional neural networks has shown impressive results, some challenges remain open due to the complexity of the skin lesions. This paper presents a wide range of analyses that cover classification and segmentation phases of skin lesion detection using deep learning techniques. The review starts with the classification techniques used for skin lesion detection, followed by a concise review on lesions segmentation, also using the deep learning techniques. Finally, this paper examined and analyzed the performances of state-of-the-art methods that have been evaluated on various skin lesion datasets. This paper has utilized performance measures based on accuracy, mean specificity, mean sensitivity, and area under the curve of 12 different Convolutional Neural Network based classification models.