Towards Multi-dimensional Explanation Alignment for Medical Classification

TL;DR

This paper introduces Med-MICN, a novel interpretable framework for medical image classification that aligns multiple explanation dimensions, improving interpretability, accuracy, and automation over existing methods.

Contribution

Med-MICN is the first framework to provide multi-dimensional interpretability in medical image classification, combining neural symbolic reasoning, concept semantics, and saliency maps.

Findings

Med-MICN outperforms baseline methods in accuracy.

It offers superior interpretability across multiple explanation dimensions.

The framework reduces human effort through automation.

Abstract

The lack of interpretability in the field of medical image analysis has significant ethical and legal implications. Existing interpretable methods in this domain encounter several challenges, including dependency on specific models, difficulties in understanding and visualization, as well as issues related to efficiency. To address these limitations, we propose a novel framework called Med-MICN (Medical Multi-dimensional Interpretable Concept Network). Med-MICN provides interpretability alignment for various angles, including neural symbolic reasoning, concept semantics, and saliency maps, which are superior to current interpretable methods. Its advantages include high prediction accuracy, interpretability across multiple dimensions, and automation through an end-to-end concept labeling process that reduces the need for extensive human training effort when working with new datasets. To demonstrate the effectiveness and interpretability of Med-MICN, we apply it to four benchmark datasets and compare it with baselines. The results clearly demonstrate the superior performance and interpretability of our Med-MICN.