Melanoma Detection using a Random Forest Algorithm

In recent years, statistical evidence has identified melanoma as a major cause of skin cancer deaths. In this study, we propose a skin analysis lesions based on colour features (C) and Hu (H) moments to differentiate benign (nevi) and malignant (melanoma) lesions and, a classification based on Random Forest algorithm. Colour features are found as follows. Pre-processing for hair removing using the Dull-razor method; image segmentation based on the optimal colour threshold set on each RGB colour channel (red, green, blue); 23 colour features extraction using the minimum and maximum RGB intensity and Hu moments; Random Forest (RF) algorithm to accurately differentiate benign and malignant skin lesions. This study used three datasets: 7-Point, Med-Node, PH2. RF classifier performance in terms of accuracy was: 94% for the 7-point dataset with H5, H7, H6, H2, C08 selected as relevant features; 98.1% for the Med-Node dataset and H7, H5, H6, H2, H1 ACC the relevant features; and, 96.5% for the PH2 dataset and H5, H6, H7, C03, H1 selected as relevant features, respectively. Shape features based on Hu moments are found to improve the classification performance of the skin lesions compared to the colour features.