Classification of Ventricular Septal Defect Disease Using Deep Learning
Kadir Barut, İhsan Pençe, Özlem Çetinkaya Bozkurt, Melike Şişeci ÇeşmeliVentricular Septal Defect (VSD) disease is the most prevalent type of congenital heart disease. VSD is a hole between the left and right ventricles of the heart structure. VSD disease accounts for approximately one-fifth of all congenital heart disease types. Therefore, accurate disease diagnosis is paramount in determining the most appropriate treatment methods. This study aims to classify VSD disease using the deep learning algorithms VGG16, ResNET50, and Inceptionv3 on Computed Tomography (CT) images and compare the pre-trained algorithms used. One of the reasons why imaging methods such as echocardiog raphy are generally used to detect congenital heart diseases is that there are almost no CT datasets related to this disease. The dataset used in this study is the ImageCHD dataset, which comprises 3D CT scans encompassing 16 distinct types of congenital heart defects. Hyperparameter optimization was performed using the grid search method to enhance the model performance, identifying the VGG16 model as the most effective. The model demonstrated a very high classification accuracy of 99.99% in the training dataset and 99.94% in the test dataset. Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping was employed to enhance model explainability, providing visualizations of the regions most critical for the classification, thereby enabling medical professionals to validate AI-driven predictions. An optimized model that successfully classifies VSD using 3D CT image data has been introduced to the literature for the first time. Therefore, this study assumes greater significance in the existing literature and sets a benchmark for future studies.