An improvement of the CNN-XGboost model for pneumonia disease classification

PURPOSE: X-ray images are viewed as a vital component in emergency diagnosis. They are often used by deep learning applications for disease prediction, especially for thoracic pathologies. Pneumonia, a fatal thoracic disease induced by bacteria or viruses, generates a pleural effusion where fluids are accumulated inside lungs, leading to breathing difficulty. The utilization of X-ray imaging for pneumonia detection offers several advantages over other modalities such as computed tomography scans or magnetic resonance imaging. X-rays provide a cost-effective and easily accessible method for screening and diagnosing pneumonia, allowing for quicker assessment and timely intervention. However, interpretation of chest X-ray images depends on the radiologist’s competency. Within this study, we aim to suggest new elements leading to good interpretation of chest X-ray images for pneumonia detection, especially for distinguishing between viral and bacterial pneumonia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We proposed an interpretation model based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and extreme gradient boosting (XGboost) for pneumonia classification. The experimental study is processed through various scenarios, using Python as a programming language and a public database obtained from Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Centre. RESULTS: The results demonstrate an acceptable accuracy of 87% within a mere 7 seconds, thereby endorsing its effectiveness compared to similar existing works. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides a model based on CNN and XGboost to classify images of viral and bacterial pneumonia. The work is a challenging task due to the lack of appropriate data. The experimental process allows a better accuracy of 87%, a specificity of 89%, and a sensitivity of 85%.