Hyperplastic and tubular polyp classification using machine learning and feature selection

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to develop an effective approach for differentiating between hyperplastic and tubular adenoma colon polyps, which is one of the most difficult tasks in colonoscopy procedures. The main research challenge is how to improve the classification of these polyp subtypes applying various focusing levels on the polyp images, data preprocessing approaches, and classification algorithms.

Methods

This study employed 202 colonoscopy videos from a total of 201 patients, focusing on 59 videos containing hyperplastic and tubular adenoma polyps. Manually extract key frames and several feature extraction and classification techniques were applied. The influence of different datasets with various focuses as well as data preprocessing steps on the performance of classification was examined, and AUC values were calculated using ten classifiers.

Results

The study discovered that the optimal dataset, data preprocessing method, and classification algorithm all had significant effects on classification results. The Random Forest model with the Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) feature selection approach, for example, consistently outperformed other models and achieved the highest AUC value of 0.9067. In terms of accuracy, F1 score, recall, and AUC, the suggested model outperformed a gastroenterologist, nevertheless precision remained slightly lower.

Conclusion

This study emphasizes the importance of dataset selection, data preprocessing, and feature selection in enhancing the classification of difficult colon polyp subtypes. The suggested model offers a promising model for the clinical differentiation of hyperplastic and tubular adenoma polyps, potentially improving diagnostic accuracy in gastroenterology.