An ensemble KANs method with XAI for mitosis segmentation in histopathological images

SAMET R., Nemati N., Hancer E., SAK S., KIRMIZI B. A.

Signal, Image and Video Processing, vol.19, no.11, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 19 Issue: 11
  • Publication Date: 2025
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s11760-025-04489-7
  • Journal Name: Signal, Image and Video Processing
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Compendex, INSPEC, zbMATH
  • Keywords: CD-SNMF, Color normalization, DDPM, Histopathology images, KANs, Mitosis segmentation, XAI
  • Ankara University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Mitosis in H&E-stained histopathological images is a critical prognostic marker for tumor aggressiveness, aiding in precise diagnosis and treatment planning. Accurate mitosis segmentation is essential for cancer diagnostics and therapeutic decisions. This study proposes an ensemble KANs method with XAI for mitosis segmentation. A hybrid dataset combining MIDOG21 and CCMCT is utilized, followed by enhanced stain normalization using DDPM and CD-SNMF. The ensemble KANs model incorporates XAI to improve interpretability and reliability, fostering trust in AI-assisted diagnostic tools. The proposed method achieved high performance on the hybrid dataset, with Accuracy of 0.905, Precision of 0.89, Recall of 0.88, F1-Score of 0.885, and AJI of 0.75. Experimental results demonstrate the method’s effectiveness in accurately identifying mitotic cells, outperforming existing methods and enhancing digital pathology.