VGG-based discrimination for pneumonia images enhanced by Generative Adversarial Network

Abstract

Due to problems such as blurring of chest X-ray image and double shadow of heart and lung, the accuracy of judging whether there is COVID-19 is not high. This study intends to use Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to segment images, and then put the segmented image set into the classification algorithm to determine whether it is infected by the pneumonia. The data set is divided into “normal” and “pneumonia”. In order to remove the interference of rib and heart on lung contour in X-ray image, GAN technology is used to segment the original data set. The segmented image only retains the most important lung silhouette, which is convenient for the next step of recognition and information extraction. The classification algorithm uses Visual Geometry Group (VGG)-16. During the training, only fully connected layer 1 and fully connected layer 2 layers were trained, and the rest layers were frozen. When the model loads the original weight, the top level of the model will be replaced by the head model. The head model is placed on the basic model and becomes part of the actual training model to determine the best weight. After the original X-ray image is processed by GAN, the accuracy of the segmented lung image is improved from 84% to 98%. Loss decreased from 17% to 3%, and the accuracy of classification results was greatly improved. Therefore, it is proved that the segmented image can effectively remove irrelevant parts in the recognition process, and the accuracy is improved due to the removal of noise interference and clearer lung contour.