Paper ID: 2306.02800

Using Multiple Dermoscopic Photographs of One Lesion Improves Melanoma Classification via Deep Learning: A Prognostic Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Achim Hekler, Roman C. Maron, Sarah Haggenmüller, Max Schmitt, Christoph Wies, Jochen S. Utikal, Friedegund Meier, Sarah Hobelsberger, Frank F. Gellrich, Mildred Sergon, Axel Hauschild, Lars E. French, Lucie Heinzerling, Justin G. Schlager, Kamran Ghoreschi, Max Schlaak, Franz J. Hilke, Gabriela Poch, Sören Korsing, Carola Berking, Markus V. Heppt, Michael Erdmann, Sebastian Haferkamp, Konstantin Drexler, Dirk Schadendorf, Wiebke Sondermann, Matthias Goebeler, Bastian Schilling, Jakob N. Kather, Eva Krieghoff-Henning, Titus J. Brinker

Background: Convolutional neural network (CNN)-based melanoma classifiers face several challenges that limit their usefulness in clinical practice. Objective: To investigate the impact of multiple real-world dermoscopic views of a single lesion of interest on a CNN-based melanoma classifier. Methods: This study evaluated 656 suspected melanoma lesions. Classifier performance was measured using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), expected calibration error (ECE) and maximum confidence change (MCC) for (I) a single-view scenario, (II) a multiview scenario using multiple artificially modified images per lesion and (III) a multiview scenario with multiple real-world images per lesion. Results: The multiview approach with real-world images significantly increased the AUROC from 0.905 (95% CI, 0.879-0.929) in the single-view approach to 0.930 (95% CI, 0.909-0.951). ECE and MCC also improved significantly from 0.131 (95% CI, 0.105-0.159) to 0.072 (95% CI: 0.052-0.093) and from 0.149 (95% CI, 0.125-0.171) to 0.115 (95% CI: 0.099-0.131), respectively. Comparing multiview real-world to artificially modified images showed comparable diagnostic accuracy and uncertainty estimation, but significantly worse robustness for the latter. Conclusion: Using multiple real-world images is an inexpensive method to positively impact the performance of a CNN-based melanoma classifier.

Submitted: Jun 5, 2023