Detection and classification of brain tumor using hybrid deep learning models

Abstract Accurately classifying brain tumor types is critical for timely diagnosis and potentially saving lives. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a widely used non-invasive method for obtaining high-contrast grayscale brain images, primarily for tumor diagnosis. The application of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) in deep learning has revolutionized diagnostic systems, leading to significant advancements in medical imaging interpretation. In this study, we employ a transfer learning-based fine-tuning approach using EfficientNets to classify brain tumors into three categories: glioma, meningioma, and pituitary tumors. We utilize the publicly accessible CE-MRI Figshare dataset to fine-tune five pre-trained models from the EfficientNets family, ranging from EfficientNetB0 to EfficientNetB4. Our approach involves a two-step process to refine the pre-trained EfficientNet model. First, we initialize the model with weights from the ImageNet dataset. Then, we add additional layers, including top layers and a fully connected layer, to enable tumor classification. We conduct various tests to assess the robustness of our fine-tuned EfficientNets in comparison to other pre-trained models. Additionally, we analyze the impact of data augmentation on the model's test accuracy. To gain insights into the model's decision-making, we employ Grad-CAM visualization to examine the attention maps generated by the most optimal model, effectively highlighting tumor locations within brain images. Our results reveal that using EfficientNetB2 as the underlying framework yields significant performance improvements. Specifically, the overall test accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score were found to be 99.06%, 98.73%, 99.13%, and 98.79%, respectively.