A Spatially-Aware Multiple Instance Learning Framework for Digital Pathology

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Hauptverfasser: Keshvarikhojasteh, Hassan, Tifrea, Mihail, Hess, Sibylle, Pluim, Josien P. W., Veta, Mitko
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Keshvarikhojasteh, Hassan
Tifrea, Mihail
Hess, Sibylle
Pluim, Josien P. W.
Veta, Mitko
author_facet Keshvarikhojasteh, Hassan
Tifrea, Mihail
Hess, Sibylle
Pluim, Josien P. W.
Veta, Mitko
contents Multiple instance learning (MIL) is a promising approach for weakly supervised classification in pathology using whole slide images (WSIs). However, conventional MIL methods such as Attention-Based Deep Multiple Instance Learning (ABMIL) typically disregard spatial interactions among patches that are crucial to pathological diagnosis. Recent advancements, such as Transformer based MIL (TransMIL), have incorporated spatial context and inter-patch relationships. However, it remains unclear whether explicitly modeling patch relationships yields similar performance gains in ABMIL, which relies solely on Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLPs). In contrast, TransMIL employs Transformer-based layers, introducing a fundamental architectural shift at the cost of substantially increased computational complexity. In this work, we enhance the ABMIL framework by integrating interaction-aware representations to address this question. Our proposed model, Global ABMIL (GABMIL), explicitly captures inter-instance dependencies while preserving computational efficiency. Experimental results on two publicly available datasets for tumor subtyping in breast and lung cancers demonstrate that GABMIL achieves up to a 7 percentage point improvement in AUPRC and a 5 percentage point increase in the Kappa score over ABMIL, with minimal or no additional computational overhead. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating patch interactions within MIL frameworks. Our code is available at \href{https://github.com/tueimage/GABMIL}{\texttt{GABMIL}}.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_17379
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Spatially-Aware Multiple Instance Learning Framework for Digital Pathology
Keshvarikhojasteh, Hassan
Tifrea, Mihail
Hess, Sibylle
Pluim, Josien P. W.
Veta, Mitko
Image and Video Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Multiple instance learning (MIL) is a promising approach for weakly supervised classification in pathology using whole slide images (WSIs). However, conventional MIL methods such as Attention-Based Deep Multiple Instance Learning (ABMIL) typically disregard spatial interactions among patches that are crucial to pathological diagnosis. Recent advancements, such as Transformer based MIL (TransMIL), have incorporated spatial context and inter-patch relationships. However, it remains unclear whether explicitly modeling patch relationships yields similar performance gains in ABMIL, which relies solely on Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLPs). In contrast, TransMIL employs Transformer-based layers, introducing a fundamental architectural shift at the cost of substantially increased computational complexity. In this work, we enhance the ABMIL framework by integrating interaction-aware representations to address this question. Our proposed model, Global ABMIL (GABMIL), explicitly captures inter-instance dependencies while preserving computational efficiency. Experimental results on two publicly available datasets for tumor subtyping in breast and lung cancers demonstrate that GABMIL achieves up to a 7 percentage point improvement in AUPRC and a 5 percentage point increase in the Kappa score over ABMIL, with minimal or no additional computational overhead. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating patch interactions within MIL frameworks. Our code is available at \href{https://github.com/tueimage/GABMIL}{\texttt{GABMIL}}.
title A Spatially-Aware Multiple Instance Learning Framework for Digital Pathology
topic Image and Video Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.17379