Automatic classification of esophageal lesions in endoscopic images using a convolutional neural network.

Background: Using deep learning techniques in image analysis is a dynamically emerging field. This study aims to use a convolutional neural network (CNN), a deep learning approach, to automatically classify esophageal cancer (EC) and distinguish it from premalignant lesions.

Methods: A total of 1,272 white-light images were adopted from 748 subjects, including normal cases, premalignant lesions, and cancerous lesions; 1,017 images were used to train the CNN, and another 255 images were examined to evaluate the CNN architecture.