Automatic Detection of Colorectal Polyps Using Transfer Learning

Simple Summary Colorectal cancer represents one of the major health problems due to high incidence and mortality rates. A diversity of treatment options as well as a rising population require novel diagnostic tools. The main goal of the research was to develop a novel complex colorectal cancer decision support system based on artificial intelligence. The developed system can classify eight classes of tissue and can identify the malignant areas. In order to allow the easiest and most intuitive interaction with clinicians, the corresponding application was also built. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death and ranks third worldwide in diagnosed malignant pathologies (1.36 million new cases annually). An increase in the diversity of treatment options as well as a rising population require novel diagnostic tools. Current diagnostics involve critical human thinking, but the decisional process loses accuracy due to the increased number of modulatory factors involved. The proposed computer-aided diagnosis system analyses each colonoscopy and provides predictions that will help the clinician to make the right decisions. Artificial intelligence is included in the system both offline and online image processing tools. Aiming to improve the diagnostic process of colon cancer patients, an application was built that allows the easiest and most intuitive interaction between medical staff and the proposed diagnosis system. The developed tool uses two networks. The first, a convolutional neural network, is capable of classifying eight classes of tissue with a sensitivity of 98.13% and an F1 score of 98.14%, while the second network, based on semantic segmentation, can identify the malignant areas with a Jaccard index of 75.18%. The results could have a direct impact on personalised medicine combining clinical knowledge with the computing power of intelligent algorithms.

Automated summary

The research has developed a novel colorectal cancer decision support system based on artificial intelligence, which can classify tissue and identify malignant areas to provide more accurate diagnostic results, potentially impacting the diagnostic process for colon cancer patients.