Breast cancer: A hybrid method for feature selection and classification in digital mammography

In this article, a hybrid approach based on the Whale optimization algorithm (WOA) and the Dragonfly algorithm (DA) is proposed for breast cancer diagnosis. The hybrid WOADA method selects features based on the fitness value. These features are used to predict the breast masses as benign or malignant using artificial neural networks (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS) as classifiers. The proposed solution is evaluated by using 651 mammograms. The results demonstrate that the WOADA technique outperforms the basic WOA and DA approaches. The accuracy of the suggested WOADA algorithm is 97.84%, with a Kappa value of 0.9477 and an AUC value of 0.972 ± 0.007 for the ANN classifier. Likewise, the ANFIS classifier achieved 98.00% accuracy with a Kappa value of 0.96 and an AUC value of 0.998 ± 0.001. In addition, the viability of the hybrid WOADA technique was evaluated on four benchmark datasets and then compared with four state-of-the-art algorithms and published approaches.