Combining classifiers for bone fracture detection in x-ray images

Abstract

In medical applications, sensitivity in detecting medical problems and accuracy of detection are often in conflict. A single classifier usually cannot achieve both high sensitivity and accuracy at the same time. Methods of combining classifiers have been proposed in the literature. This paper presents a study of probabilistic combination methods applied to the detection of bone fractures in x-ray images. Test results show that the effectiveness of a method in improving both accuracy and sensitivity depends on the nature of the method as well as the proportion of positive samples. © 2005 IEEE.