Enhanced Framework for MRI Brain Tumor Recognition with Residual Learning and Intuitive Heatmap Visualization

Early detection of brain tumors is crucial for effective treatment, yet it poses a significant challenge due to the rapid nature of the disease's progression. This study explores the application of ResNet, aimed at improving the accuracy of brain tumor diagnosis in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Our model was trained on a dataset comprising 253 MRI images, which included 155 confirmed cases of tumors. The residual learning framework of ResNet effectively captures intricate features and mitigates issues such as vanishing gradients. The results indicate that the ResNet model achieved an impressive accuracy rate of 97%, surpassing traditional detection methods. We evaluated the model's performance using metrics like accuracy and F1-score, demonstrating its robustness. To improve the interpretability of our model's predictions, we utilized Grad-CAM (Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping), which highlighted critical areas in the MRI scans that influenced the model's decisions. Our findings confirm ResNet’ s effectiveness in medical imaging and stress the importance of model interpretability in healthcare, allowing radiologists to make informed diagnostic choices.