Discriminating BCC Subtypes Using Entropy and Mutual Information from Dermoscopic Features

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Autori principali: Matas, Iván, Acha, Begoña, Silva-Clavería, Francisca, Serrano, Amalia, Toledo-Pastrana, Tomás, Serrano, Carmen
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Matas, Iván
Acha, Begoña
Silva-Clavería, Francisca
Serrano, Amalia
Toledo-Pastrana, Tomás
Serrano, Carmen
author_facet Matas, Iván
Acha, Begoña
Silva-Clavería, Francisca
Serrano, Amalia
Toledo-Pastrana, Tomás
Serrano, Carmen
contents Objective: To analyze the frequency and co-occurrence of dermoscopic patterns in BCC lesions and their relationship with histopathologic subtypes, using statistical analysis and Information Theory tools such as entropy, conditional entropy, mutual information, and Hamming weight. Methods: A total of 223 dermoscopic images (256x256 pixels) of histologically confirmed BCC lesions from Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena (Seville, Spain) were analyzed. Each image was multilabel-annotated for the presence of nine dermoscopic patterns and categorized into one of four BCC subtypes: superficial, nodular, infiltrative, or micronodular. Statistical and information-theoretic methods were applied, including co-occurrence matrices, Bayesian conditional probabilities, and entropy-based metrics. Mutual information quantified the predictive value of individual and paired patterns, and decision trees were built based on diagnostic informativeness. Results: Nodular BCC was highly associated with most dermoscopic patterns, particularly arborizing telangiectasia and blue-gray ovoid nests. Superficial BCC showed stronger associations with maple leaf-like structures and shiny white-red areas. Some patterns, like spoke-wheel areas and white streaks, showed low discriminative power. Mutual information and conditional probabilities identified meaningful pattern-pair dependencies for each subtype. Decision trees revealed that subsets of patterns could enhance subtype classification by accumulating diagnostic information. Conclusions: Information Theory enables a quantitative understanding of dermoscopic patterns and their relationship with BCC subtypes. This framework highlights key diagnostic features, aids in differentiating complex cases, and supports the development of automated, pattern-based diagnostic tools. Further research with larger, more balanced datasets is encouraged.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_04212
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Discriminating BCC Subtypes Using Entropy and Mutual Information from Dermoscopic Features
Matas, Iván
Acha, Begoña
Silva-Clavería, Francisca
Serrano, Amalia
Toledo-Pastrana, Tomás
Serrano, Carmen
Quantitative Methods
Methodology
Objective: To analyze the frequency and co-occurrence of dermoscopic patterns in BCC lesions and their relationship with histopathologic subtypes, using statistical analysis and Information Theory tools such as entropy, conditional entropy, mutual information, and Hamming weight. Methods: A total of 223 dermoscopic images (256x256 pixels) of histologically confirmed BCC lesions from Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena (Seville, Spain) were analyzed. Each image was multilabel-annotated for the presence of nine dermoscopic patterns and categorized into one of four BCC subtypes: superficial, nodular, infiltrative, or micronodular. Statistical and information-theoretic methods were applied, including co-occurrence matrices, Bayesian conditional probabilities, and entropy-based metrics. Mutual information quantified the predictive value of individual and paired patterns, and decision trees were built based on diagnostic informativeness. Results: Nodular BCC was highly associated with most dermoscopic patterns, particularly arborizing telangiectasia and blue-gray ovoid nests. Superficial BCC showed stronger associations with maple leaf-like structures and shiny white-red areas. Some patterns, like spoke-wheel areas and white streaks, showed low discriminative power. Mutual information and conditional probabilities identified meaningful pattern-pair dependencies for each subtype. Decision trees revealed that subsets of patterns could enhance subtype classification by accumulating diagnostic information. Conclusions: Information Theory enables a quantitative understanding of dermoscopic patterns and their relationship with BCC subtypes. This framework highlights key diagnostic features, aids in differentiating complex cases, and supports the development of automated, pattern-based diagnostic tools. Further research with larger, more balanced datasets is encouraged.
title Discriminating BCC Subtypes Using Entropy and Mutual Information from Dermoscopic Features
topic Quantitative Methods
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.04212