Diagnosis of Mesothelioma Using Image Segmentation and Class-Based Deep Feature Transformations

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive form of cancer that primarily affects the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart. It typically arises from exposure to asbestos and is often diagnosed at advanced stages. Limited datasets and complex tissue structures contribute to delays in diagnosis. This study aims to develop a novel hybrid model to improve the accuracy and timeliness of mesothelioma diagnosis. Methods: The proposed approach integrates automatic image segmentation, transformer-based model training, class-based feature extraction, and image transformation techniques. Initially, CT images were processed using the segment anything model (SAM) for region-focused segmentation. These segmented images were then used to train transformer models (CaiT and PVT) to extract class/type-specific features. Each class-based feature set was transformed into an image using Decoder, GAN, and NeRV techniques. Discriminative score and class centroid analysis were then applied to select the most informative image representation for each input. Finally, classification was performed using a residual-based support vector machine (SVM). Results: The proposed hybrid method achieved a classification accuracy of 99.80% in diagnosing mesothelioma, demonstrating its effectiveness in handling limited data and complex tissue characteristics. Conclusions: The results indicate that the proposed model offers a highly accurate and efficient approach to mesothelioma diagnosis. By leveraging advanced segmentation, feature extraction, and representation techniques, it effectively addresses the major challenges associated with early and precise detection of mesothelioma.