Advancements in skin cancer classification: a review of machine learning techniques in clinical image analysis

Early detection of skin cancer from skin lesion images using visual inspection can be challenging. In recent years, research in applying deep learning models to assist in the diagnosis of skin cancer has achieved impressive results. State-of-the-art techniques have shown high accuracy, sensitivity and specificity compared with dermatologists. However, the analysis of dermoscopy images with deep learning models still faces several challenges, including image segmentation, noise filtering and image capture environment inconsistency. After making the introduction to the topic, this paper firstly presents the components of machine learning-based skin cancer diagnosis. It then presents the literature review on the current advance in machine learning approaches for skin cancer classification, which covers both the traditional machine learning approaches and deep learning approaches. The paper also presents the current challenges and future directions for skin cancer classification using machine learning approaches.