Hybrid CNN-Transformer Architecture With Xception-Based Feature Enhancement for Accurate Breast Cancer Classification

Breast cancer is one of the most common causes of death in women worldwide. While accurate diagnosis it from histopathological images is vital, the process often relies heavily on pathologists’ skills, leading to inconsistent results and lengthy evaluation times. To address this, computer...

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Main Authors: Alireza Zeynali, Mohammad Ali Tinati, Behzad Mozaffari Tazehkand
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2024-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
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Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10794751/
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author Alireza Zeynali
Mohammad Ali Tinati
Behzad Mozaffari Tazehkand
author_facet Alireza Zeynali
Mohammad Ali Tinati
Behzad Mozaffari Tazehkand
author_sort Alireza Zeynali
collection DOAJ
description Breast cancer is one of the most common causes of death in women worldwide. While accurate diagnosis it from histopathological images is vital, the process often relies heavily on pathologists’ skills, leading to inconsistent results and lengthy evaluation times. To address this, computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) techniques are advised. This study introduces a deep learning (DL) approach that integrates Xception and Transformer architectures to improve breast cancer classification from histopathological images. The proposed model leverages Xception for local feature extraction, while a Transformer captures global contextual features, thereby overcoming the limitations of conventional models in handling both local and global dependencies in medical images. The architecture is evaluated on two publicly available datasets, BreaKHis and IDC. Our proposed model achieved accuracy ranging from 96.15% to 100% in the magnification-dependent (MD) scenario, from 94.82% to 99.62% in the magnification-independent (MI) scenario on the BreaKHis dataset and 91% in the binary classification of the IDC dataset. This approach surpasses existing models in both binary and eight-class classification. This can reduce the diagnostic workload, decrease diagnostic variability and provide rapid, reliable support for clinical decision-making.
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spelling doaj-art-c52d262fedc34cb587f3a0887fb2f2ce2025-08-20T01:58:15ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362024-01-011218947718949310.1109/ACCESS.2024.351653510794751Hybrid CNN-Transformer Architecture With Xception-Based Feature Enhancement for Accurate Breast Cancer ClassificationAlireza Zeynali0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8989-2735Mohammad Ali Tinati1Behzad Mozaffari Tazehkand2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0734-5816Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, IranFaculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, IranFaculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, IranBreast cancer is one of the most common causes of death in women worldwide. While accurate diagnosis it from histopathological images is vital, the process often relies heavily on pathologists’ skills, leading to inconsistent results and lengthy evaluation times. To address this, computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) techniques are advised. This study introduces a deep learning (DL) approach that integrates Xception and Transformer architectures to improve breast cancer classification from histopathological images. The proposed model leverages Xception for local feature extraction, while a Transformer captures global contextual features, thereby overcoming the limitations of conventional models in handling both local and global dependencies in medical images. The architecture is evaluated on two publicly available datasets, BreaKHis and IDC. Our proposed model achieved accuracy ranging from 96.15% to 100% in the magnification-dependent (MD) scenario, from 94.82% to 99.62% in the magnification-independent (MI) scenario on the BreaKHis dataset and 91% in the binary classification of the IDC dataset. This approach surpasses existing models in both binary and eight-class classification. This can reduce the diagnostic workload, decrease diagnostic variability and provide rapid, reliable support for clinical decision-making.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10794751/Breast cancerhistopathological imagesconvolutional neural networkvision transformerXceptiontransfer learning
spellingShingle Alireza Zeynali
Mohammad Ali Tinati
Behzad Mozaffari Tazehkand
Hybrid CNN-Transformer Architecture With Xception-Based Feature Enhancement for Accurate Breast Cancer Classification
IEEE Access
Breast cancer
histopathological images
convolutional neural network
vision transformer
Xception
transfer learning
title Hybrid CNN-Transformer Architecture With Xception-Based Feature Enhancement for Accurate Breast Cancer Classification
title_full Hybrid CNN-Transformer Architecture With Xception-Based Feature Enhancement for Accurate Breast Cancer Classification
title_fullStr Hybrid CNN-Transformer Architecture With Xception-Based Feature Enhancement for Accurate Breast Cancer Classification
title_full_unstemmed Hybrid CNN-Transformer Architecture With Xception-Based Feature Enhancement for Accurate Breast Cancer Classification
title_short Hybrid CNN-Transformer Architecture With Xception-Based Feature Enhancement for Accurate Breast Cancer Classification
title_sort hybrid cnn transformer architecture with xception based feature enhancement for accurate breast cancer classification
topic Breast cancer
histopathological images
convolutional neural network
vision transformer
Xception
transfer learning
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10794751/
work_keys_str_mv AT alirezazeynali hybridcnntransformerarchitecturewithxceptionbasedfeatureenhancementforaccuratebreastcancerclassification
AT mohammadalitinati hybridcnntransformerarchitecturewithxceptionbasedfeatureenhancementforaccuratebreastcancerclassification
AT behzadmozaffaritazehkand hybridcnntransformerarchitecturewithxceptionbasedfeatureenhancementforaccuratebreastcancerclassification