Classification of malignant tumors in breast ultrasound using a pretrained deep residual network model and support vector machine.

In this study, a transfer learning method was utilized to recognize and classify benign and malignant breast tumors, using two-dimensional breast ultrasound (US) images, to decrease the effort expended by physicians and improve the quality of clinical diagnosis. The pretrained deep residual network model was utilized for image feature extraction from the convolutional layer of the trained network; whereas, the linear support vector machine (SVM), with a sequential minimal optimization solver, was used to classify the extracted feature. We used an image dataset with 2099 unlabeled two-dimensional breast US images, collected from 543 patients (benign: 302, malignant: 241). The classification performance yielded a sensitivity of 94.34 % and a specificity of 93.22 % for malignant images (Area under curve = 0.938). The positive and negative predictive values were 92.6 and 94.8, respectively. A comparison between the diagnosis made by the physician and the automated classification by a trained classifier, showed that the latter had significantly better outcomes. This indicates the potential applicability of the proposed approach that incorporates both the pretrained deep learning network and a well-trained classifier, to improve the quality and efficacy of clinical diagnosis.