Automatic Melanoma Detection using Discrete Cosine Transform Features and Metadata on Dermoscopic Images

Abstract

Machine learning contributes in improving the accuracy of melanoma detection. There are extensive studies in classic and deep learning-based approaches for melanoma detection in the literature. Still, they are not accurate or require high learning data. This paper proposes a hybrid mechanism for automated melanoma detection on dermoscopic images based on Discrete Cosine Transform features and metadata. It is composed of three steps. First, extra information/artifacts are deleted, the remaining pixels are standardized for accurate processing. Second, the reliability of the mechanism is improved by the Radon transform, extra data is removed using the Top-hat filter, and the detection rate is increased by Discrete Wavelet Transform and Discrete Cosine Transform. Then, the number of features is reduced by Locality Sensitive Discriminant Analysis. The third step divides the images into learning and test ones to create image-based models using learning data. Finally, the best model is selected based on test data and improved by a metadata-based model. Simulation results show that the decision tree provides the most practical image-based model by improving accuracy and sensitivity. Besides, the comparison results demonstrate that our model improves the F-Value to detect melanoma superior to other approaches.