Histopathological Classification of Canine Cutaneous Round Cell Tumors Using Deep Learning: A Multi-Center Study

• DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2021.640944
• Publication Date: 2021-03-26T04:52:07Z
• Authors: Massimo Salvi; Filippo Molinari; Selina Iussich; Luisa Vera Muscat...; Luca Pazzini; Silvia Benali; Barbara Banco; Francesca Abramo; Raffaella De Maria; Luca Aresu
• Keywords: Veterinary medicine; deep learning; 3. Good health; mast cell tumors; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; cutaneous round cell tumors; dog; SF600-1100; computer-aided image analysis; cutaneous round cell tumors; deep learning; digital pathology; dog; mast cell tumors; computer-aided image analysis; Veterinary Science; digital pathology

Canine cutaneous round cell tumors (RCT) represent one of the routine diagnostic challenges for veterinary pathologists. Computer-aided approaches are developed to overcome these restrictions and to increase accuracy and consistency of diagnosis. These systems are also of high benefit reducing errors when a large number of cases are screened daily. In this study we describe ARCTA (Automated Round Cell Tumors Assessment), a fully automated algorithm for cutaneous RCT classification and mast cell tumors grading in canine histopathological images. ARCTA employs a deep learning strategy and was developed on 416 RCT images and 213 mast cell tumors images. In the test set, our algorithm exhibited an excellent classification performance in both RCT classification (accuracy: 91.66%) and mast cell tumors grading (accuracy: 100%). Misdiagnoses were encountered for histiocytomas in the train set and for melanomas in the test set. For mast cell tumors the reduction of a grade was observed in the train set, but not in the test set. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed model is the first fully automated algorithm in histological images specifically developed for veterinary medicine. Being very fast (average computational time 2.63 s), this algorithm paves the way for an automated and effective evaluation of canine tumors.