Fusion-Based Brain Tumor Classification Using Deep Learning and Explainable AI, and Rule-Based Reasoning
It addresses the need for accurate and interpretable automated diagnosis in clinical neurodiagnostics, though it is incremental as it combines existing methods.
This study tackled brain tumor classification from MRI images by developing an ensemble deep learning framework with explainable AI, achieving an accuracy of 91.7% and high interpretability scores from radiologists.
Accurate and interpretable classification of brain tumors from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is critical for effective diagnosis and treatment planning. This study presents an ensemble-based deep learning framework that combines MobileNetV2 and DenseNet121 convolutional neural networks (CNNs) using a soft voting strategy to classify three common brain tumor types: glioma, meningioma, and pituitary adenoma. The models were trained and evaluated on the Figshare dataset using a stratified 5-fold cross-validation protocol. To enhance transparency and clinical trust, the framework integrates an Explainable AI (XAI) module employing Grad-CAM++ for class-specific saliency visualization, alongside a symbolic Clinical Decision Rule Overlay (CDRO) that maps predictions to established radiological heuristics. The ensemble classifier achieved superior performance compared to individual CNNs, with an accuracy of 91.7%, precision of 91.9%, recall of 91.7%, and F1-score of 91.6%. Grad-CAM++ visualizations revealed strong spatial alignment between model attention and expert-annotated tumor regions, supported by Dice coefficients up to 0.88 and IoU scores up to 0.78. Clinical rule activation further validated model predictions in cases with distinct morphological features. A human-centered interpretability assessment involving five board-certified radiologists yielded high Likert-scale scores for both explanation usefulness (mean = 4.4) and heatmap-region correspondence (mean = 4.0), reinforcing the framework's clinical relevance. Overall, the proposed approach offers a robust, interpretable, and generalizable solution for automated brain tumor classification, advancing the integration of deep learning into clinical neurodiagnostics.