Hybrid Deep Learning Model for Arch of Aorta Classification Based on Slime Mould Algorithm

As an important anatomical structure, the mediastinum can develop a variety of lesions. Endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine needle aspiration is a novel auxiliary diagnostic method for these diseases at present. Since the images presented by endoscopic ultrasonography are not direct views, even experienced doctors may have certain difficulties in identifying the exact location of lesions in clinical diagnosis. Therefore, deep learning can be used to classify endoscopic images to assist doctors in the positioning of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). In this paper, a hybrid model combining the pre-trained deep learning network-ResNet and the metaheuristic algorithm called Slime Mould Algorithm (SMA) is proposed to identify the structure of the aortic arch by distinguishing the aortic arch from non-aortic arch to assist doctors in positioning rapidly. The hybrid model utilizes ResNet50 for a raw feature extraction, adopts SMA for a further feature selection based on the extracted features, and finally uses the Support Vector Machine classifier to classify the filtered features. The hybrid model takes advantage of the excellent feature extraction ability of the deep network and the good search characteristics in the solution space of the SMA. This model achieves an average accuracy of 92.21% for classification on practical data of 14 patients’ EUS images. Experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms other deep networks and metaheuristic algorithms. It shows that this model has achieved good results in the aortic arch classification problem.