Classification of Breast Cancer with Transfer Learning on Convolutional Neural Network Models

Abstract

Breast cancer is a serious medical condition and a leading cause of death among women. Early and accurate diagnosis is crucial for improving patient outcomes. This study explores the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) with Transfer Learning using DenseNet121 and ResNet50 models to enhance breast cancer classification via mammography. Transfer Learning enables CNN models to leverage knowledge learned from larger datasets such as ImageNet to improve performance on specific breast cancer datasets. The dataset comprised medical images with three breast variations: benign, malignant, and normal, totaling 531 data points. Data was split with a 70% training and 30% validation ratio. Two CNN models, AlexNet and ResNet50, were evaluated to compare their performance in classifying these breast cancer types. The experimental results show that AlexNet achieved a training accuracy of 98.01%, while ResNet50 achieved 64.07%. AlexNet demonstrated superior performance in identifying complex patterns in mammography images, resulting in more accurate classification of different breast cancer types. These findings highlight the potential of deep learning applications to support more precise and effective medical diagnostics for breast cancer. This research contributes significantly to the development of AI technologies in healthcare aimed at improving early detection of breast cancer. The implications of this study could expand our understanding of Transfer Learning applications in medical contexts, driving further advancements in this field to enhance patient care and prognosis