Comparative exploration of deep convolutional neural networks using real-time endoscopy images

Until now various deep convolutional neural networks are designed and trained for the purpose of classifying different medical conditions related to the domain of gastroenterology. Most of the study carried out have considered publicly available datasets to train the classification networks. Nevertheless, the main motive for carrying out different works in the field gastroenterology is to administer the developed models in healthcare centers in real-world set-ups. For doing so, it is important to check the generalizing ability of the designed systems by regulating them so as to classify endoscopy images captured in a specific hospital. In this regard, the foremost work completed is the collection of the endoscopy data from the hospital and then correctly annotating the images taking the help of a senior endoscopist with experience of more than 5 years. Once the data annotation is completed, the images are segregated into the class of normal and abnormal endoscopy images. Four different models are designed in the current work based on deep learning models, transfer learning models and ensemble approaches, and trained to classify the hospital endoscopy data as normal or abnormal. The models are then tested and evaluated based on various performance measures. It is observed from the comparative analysis that the transfer learning-based ensemble model has the best generalizing ability and gives the best specificity of 100 ​%. It is believed that deep learning-based models can assist endoscopists in add-on to human prediction efficiency.