Deformable Attention Graph Representation Learning for Histopathology Whole Slide Image Analysis

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Fu, Mingxi, Ling, Xitong, Chen, Yuxuan, Li, Jiawen, fu, fanglei, Yuan, Huaitian, Guan, Tian, He, Yonghong, Zhu, Lianghui
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Fu, Mingxi
Ling, Xitong
Chen, Yuxuan
Li, Jiawen
fu, fanglei
Yuan, Huaitian
Guan, Tian
He, Yonghong
Zhu, Lianghui
author_facet Fu, Mingxi
Ling, Xitong
Chen, Yuxuan
Li, Jiawen
fu, fanglei
Yuan, Huaitian
Guan, Tian
He, Yonghong
Zhu, Lianghui
contents Accurate classification of Whole Slide Images (WSIs) and Regions of Interest (ROIs) is a fundamental challenge in computational pathology. While mainstream approaches often adopt Multiple Instance Learning (MIL), they struggle to capture the spatial dependencies among tissue structures. Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have emerged as a solution to model inter-instance relationships, yet most rely on static graph topologies and overlook the physical spatial positions of tissue patches. Moreover, conventional attention mechanisms lack specificity, limiting their ability to focus on structurally relevant regions. In this work, we propose a novel GNN framework with deformable attention for pathology image analysis. We construct a dynamic weighted directed graph based on patch features, where each node aggregates contextual information from its neighbors via attention-weighted edges. Specifically, we incorporate learnable spatial offsets informed by the real coordinates of each patch, enabling the model to adaptively attend to morphologically relevant regions across the slide. This design significantly enhances the contextual field while preserving spatial specificity. Our framework achieves state-of-the-art performance on four benchmark datasets (TCGA-COAD, BRACS, gastric intestinal metaplasia grading, and intestinal ROI classification), demonstrating the power of deformable attention in capturing complex spatial structures in WSIs and ROIs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_05382
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Deformable Attention Graph Representation Learning for Histopathology Whole Slide Image Analysis
Fu, Mingxi
Ling, Xitong
Chen, Yuxuan
Li, Jiawen
fu, fanglei
Yuan, Huaitian
Guan, Tian
He, Yonghong
Zhu, Lianghui
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Accurate classification of Whole Slide Images (WSIs) and Regions of Interest (ROIs) is a fundamental challenge in computational pathology. While mainstream approaches often adopt Multiple Instance Learning (MIL), they struggle to capture the spatial dependencies among tissue structures. Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have emerged as a solution to model inter-instance relationships, yet most rely on static graph topologies and overlook the physical spatial positions of tissue patches. Moreover, conventional attention mechanisms lack specificity, limiting their ability to focus on structurally relevant regions. In this work, we propose a novel GNN framework with deformable attention for pathology image analysis. We construct a dynamic weighted directed graph based on patch features, where each node aggregates contextual information from its neighbors via attention-weighted edges. Specifically, we incorporate learnable spatial offsets informed by the real coordinates of each patch, enabling the model to adaptively attend to morphologically relevant regions across the slide. This design significantly enhances the contextual field while preserving spatial specificity. Our framework achieves state-of-the-art performance on four benchmark datasets (TCGA-COAD, BRACS, gastric intestinal metaplasia grading, and intestinal ROI classification), demonstrating the power of deformable attention in capturing complex spatial structures in WSIs and ROIs.
title Deformable Attention Graph Representation Learning for Histopathology Whole Slide Image Analysis
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.05382