DuSCN-FusionNet: An Interpretable Dual-Channel Structural Covariance Fusion Framework for ADHD Classification Using Structural MRI
Organizations: Department of Computer and Software Engineering, College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan · Graduate School of Informatics, Middle East Technical University, 06800, Ankara, Turkey
Abstract
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental condition; however, its neurobiological diagnosis remains challenging due to the lack of reliable imaging-based biomarkers, particularly anatomical markers. Structural MRI (sMRI) provides a non-invasive modality for investigating brain alterations associated with ADHD; nevertheless, most deep learning approaches function as black-box systems, limiting clinical trust and interpretability. In this work, we propose DuSCN-FusionNet, an interpretable sMRI-based framework for ADHD classification that leverages dual-channel Structural Covariance Networks (SCNs) to capture inter-regional morphological relationships. ROI-wise mean intensity and intra-regional variability descriptors are used to construct intensity-based and heterogeneity-based SCNs, which are processed through an SCN-CNN encoder. In parallel, auxiliary ROI-wise variability features and global statistical descriptors are integrated via late-stage fusion to enhance performance. The model is evaluated using stratified 10-fold cross-validation with a 5-seed ensemble strategy, achieving a mean balanced accuracy of 80.59% and an AUC of 0.778 on the Peking University site of the ADHD-200 dataset. DuSCN-FusionNet further achieves precision, recall, and F1-scores of 81.66%, 80.59%, and 80.27%, respectively. Moreover, Grad-CAM is adapted to the SCN domain to derive ROI-level importance scores, enabling the identification of structurally relevant brain regions as potential biomarkers.
Figures & tables
| Method | Sample (ADHD/HC) | Features | Classifier(s) | ACC (%) | Bio-markers |
| Wang et al. [12] | 146 / 441 | Raw sMRI | 3D MVA-CNN | 78.8 | No |
| Kuttala et al. [13] | 77 / 94 | Multilayer Perceptron | Dense Attentive GAN | 85.38 | No |
| Zou et al. [23] | 197 / 362 | GM, WM, CSF | 3D CNN | 65.86 | No |
| DuSCN-FusionNet-(ours) | 78 / 116 | SCNs + IQR + Global Features | CNN-MLP | 80.59 | Yes |
| Pipeline Variant | ACC (%) | PRE (%) | REC (%) | F1 (%) |
| Without Auxiliary features | 62.01 13.75 | 63.57 14.59 | 62.01 13.75 | 60.03 13.30 |
| Without Seed Ensemble | 72.14 6.17 | 74.04 6.17 | 72.14 6.17 | 71.50 6.52 |
| DuSCN-FusionNet | 80.59 9.39 | 81.66 8.87 | 80.59 9.39 | 80.27 9.28 |