ResCaps: an improved capsule network and its application in ultrasonic image classification of thyroid papillary carcinoma

Abstract

AbstractUltrasonic image examination is the first choice for the diagnosis of thyroid papillary carcinoma. However, there are some problems in the ultrasonic image of thyroid papillary carcinoma, such as poor definition, tissue overlap and low resolution, which make the ultrasonic image difficult to be diagnosed. Capsule network (CapsNet) can effectively address tissue overlap and other problems. This paper investigates a new network model based on capsule network, which is named as ResCaps network. ResCaps network uses residual modules and enhances the abstract expression of the model. The experimental results reveal that the characteristic classification accuracy of ResCaps3 network model for self-made data set of thyroid papillary carcinoma was $$81.06\%$$ 81.06 % . Furthermore, Fashion-MNIST data set is also tested to show the reliability and validity of ResCaps network model. Notably, the ResCaps network model not only improves the accuracy of CapsNet significantly, but also provides an effective method for the classification of lesion characteristics of thyroid papillary carcinoma ultrasonic images.