Quantum-Inspired Classical Convolutional Neural Network for Automated Bone Cancer Detection from X-Ray Images

Abstract

Accurate and early detection of bone cancer is critical for improving patient outcomes, yet conventional radiographic interpretation remains limited by subjectivity and variability. Conventional AI models often struggle with complex multi-modal noise distributions, non-convex and topologically entangled latent manifolds, extreme class imbalance in rare oncological conditions, and heterogeneous data fusion constraints. To address these challenges, we present a Quantum-Inspired Classical Convolutional Neural Network (QC-CNN) inspired by quantum analogies for automated bone cancer detection in radiographic images. The proposed architecture integrates classical convolutional layers for hierarchical feature extraction with a classical variational layer motivated by high-dimensional Hilbert space analogies for enhanced pattern discrimination. A curated and annotated dataset of bone X-ray images was utilized, partitioned into training, validation, and independent test cohorts. The QC-CNN was optimized using stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with adaptive learning rate scheduling, and regularization strategies were applied to mitigate overfitting. Quantitative evaluation demonstrated superior diagnostic performance, achieving high accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results highlight the ability of classical CNN with quantum-inspired design to capture non-linear correlations and subtle radiographic biomarkers that classical CNNs may overlook. This study establishes QC-CNN as a promising framework for quantum-analogy motivated medical image analysis, providing evidence of its utility in oncology and underscoring its potential for translation into clinical decision-support systems for early bone cancer diagnosis. All computations in the present study are performed using classical algorithms, with quantum-inspired concepts serving as a conceptual framework for model design and motivating future extensions.