Optimized clustering-based fusion for skin lesion image classification: Leveraging marine predators algorithm

This manuscript presents a comprehensive approach to enhance the accuracy of skin lesion image classification based on the HAM10000 and BCN20000 datasets. Building on prior feature fusion models, this research introduces an optimized cluster-based fusion approach to address limitations observed in our previous methods. The study proposes two novel feature fusion strategies, KFS-MPA (using K-means) and DFS-MPA (using DBSCAN), for skin lesion classification. These approaches leverage optimized clustering-based deep feature fusion and the marine predator algorithm (MPA). Ten fused feature sets are evaluated using three classifiers on both datasets, and their performance is compared in terms of dimensionality reduction and accuracy improvement. The results consistently demonstrate that the DFS-MPA approach outperforms KFS-MPA and other compared fusion methods, achieving notable dimensionality reduction and the highest accuracy levels. ROC-AUC curves further support the superiority of DFS-MPA, highlighting its exceptional discriminative capabilities. Five-fold cross-validation tests and a comparison with the previously proposed feature fusion method (FOWFS-AJS) are performed, confirming the effectiveness of DFS-MPA in enhancing classification performance. The statistical validation based on the Friedman test and Bonferroni-Dunn test also supports DFS-MPA as a promising approach for skin lesion classification among the evaluated feature fusion methods. These findings emphasize the significance of optimized cluster-based deep feature fusion in skin lesion classification and establish DFS-MPA as the preferred choice for feature fusion in this study.