Classification of serum protein and immunofixation electrophoresis images by computer vision-based deep learning models: A single- and dual-modality study

Abstract

Objectives

The objective of this study was to develop deep learning models for the automated classification of serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) and immunofixation electrophoresis (IFE) images into oncologic, non-oncologic, and healthy categories, and to compare the predictive performance of single- and dual-modality approaches.

Methods

We retrospectively collected SPE and IFE images from 1,919 patients who underwent both tests at Kartal Dr Lütfi Kırdar City Hospital. MobileNetV2-based models were developed using transfer learning. Single-modality (SPE or IFE) and dual-modality (SPE and IFE) models were trained, and their performance was evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, F1-score, and ROC-AUC. Grad-CAM visualizations were generated to assess model interpretability.

Results

The dual-modality model achieved higher accuracy and robustness compared to single-modality models. Oncologic cases were detected with near-perfect recall and ROC-AUC, while single-modality models demonstrated moderate performance in distinguishing non-oncologic and healthy groups. Grad-CAM outputs confirmed that the models focused on diagnostically relevant electrophoretic bands.

Conclusion

Deep learning models can reliably classify electrophoresis images into oncologic, non-oncologic, and healthy categories. Combining SPE and IFE improves diagnostic performance and may assist laboratory specialists and hematologists in reducing subjectivity, particularly in borderline cases. Validation in larger, multicenter cohorts is warranted prior to clinical implementation.