HybridViT: An Approach for Alzheimer’s Disease Classification with ADNI Neuroimaging Data

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a prevalent neurological disorder characterized by progressive brain cell degeneration and atrophy, leading to a gradual decline in cognitive and functional abilities. Timely diagnosis is paramount in potentially delaying or preventing the course of this debilitating condition. Magnetic Resonance Imaging presents a non-invasive means for longitudinal monitoring and serves as a crucial biomarker for tracking disease progression. In particular, Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI) enables the quantification of atrophy, which is a reliable indicator for assessing the precise stage and severity of AD-related neurodegeneration. In this research, we employ advanced machine learning techniques to address the challenge of accurate and early diagnosis of AD. We utilize a comprehensive dataset comprising five stages of 2D sMRI Image data, encompassing AD, Cognitively Normal, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Early Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Late Mild Cognitive Impairment classes. To optimize the classification process, we explore a novel approach that combines a Vision Transformer with pre-trained convolutional neural networks. Our study includes binary and multi-class classification tasks, and the performance of 26 pre-trained Keras Deep Learning models is assessed. Notably, The DenseNet121+ViT model achieves 91.26% accuracy in multi-class classification. For binary classification, MobileNetV2+ViT, EfficientNetB4+ViT, and MobileNet+ViT achieve accuracies of 92.33%, 97.82%, and 94.81%, respectively. These results highlight our approach’s potential to improve AD diagnosis accuracy and underscore the importance of deep learning in early detection of neurological disorders.