Advancing Leukocyte Classification: A Cutting‐Edge Deep Learning Approach for <scp>AI</scp>‐Driven Clinical Diagnosis

ABSTRACT White blood cells (WBCs) are crucial components of the immune system, responsible for detecting and eliminating pathogens. Accurate detection and classification of WBCs are essential for various clinical diagnostics. This study aims to develop an AI framework for detecting and classifying WBCs from microscopic images using a customized YOLOv5 model with three key modifications. Firstly, the C3 module in YOLOv5's backbone is replaced with the innovative C3TR structure to enhance feature extraction and reduce background noise. Secondly, the BiFPN is integrated into the neck to improve feature localization and discrimination. Thirdly, an additional layer in the head enhances detection of small WBCs. Experiments on the BCCD dataset, comprising 352 microscopic blood smear images with leukocytes, demonstrated the framework's superiority over state‐of‐the‐art methods, achieving 99.4% accuracy. Furthermore, the model exhibits computational efficiency, operating over five times faster than existing YOLO models. These findings underscore the framework's promise in medical diagnostics, showcasing deep learning's supremacy in automated cell classification.