Advancements in Skin Cancer Detection: A Comprehensive Review of Convolutional Neural Network Approaches

Skin cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer globally, with its incidence steadily rising over the past decades. Early and accurate detection of skin cancer plays a pivotal role in improving patient outcomes and reducing mortality rates. In recent years, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have emerged as powerful tools for automated image analysis and classification, offering promising results in various medical imaging tasks, including skin cancer detection. This paper provides a comprehensive review and analysis of CNN-based approaches for skin cancer classification. We discuss the challenges associated with traditional methods of skin cancer diagnosis and highlight the potential of CNNs in addressing these challenges. Furthermore, we survey state-of-the-art CNN architectures, dataset collections, preprocessing techniques, and evaluation metrics commonly used in skin cancer classification tasks. We also delve into the transfer learning and data augmentation strategies employed to improve model generalization and robustness. Additionally, we review recent advancements in interpretability techniques for CNNs, which enhance the transparency and trustworthiness of automated skin cancer diagnosis systems. Finally, we discuss the limitations and future directions of CNN-based approaches in skin cancer classification, emphasizing the need for large-scale, diverse datasets, standardized evaluation protocols, and interdisciplinary collaborations to facilitate the clinical translation and deployment of CNN-based diagnostic tool.