Melanoma Classification Through Deep Ensemble Learning and Explainable AI

The skin is the largest organ in the human body, and approximately a third of the total number of cancer cases are represented by skin cancers. Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, which is responsible for an overwhelming majority of skin cancer deaths. The number of melanoma deaths is expected to increase by 4.4% in 2023. Although the mortality is significant, when detected e arly, the 5-year survival rate for melanoma is over 99% (American Cancer Society, 2022). Currently, the most accurate way to diagnose melanoma is a biopsy. This is a penetrative surgical procedure that involves higher costs but also incorporates risks of developing various infectious diseases (Lakhtakia et al., 2009). Thus, the usual clinical practice of melanoma diagnosis is visual inspection using Dermoscopy by dermatologists or specially trained clinicians. This approach presents challenges, primarily due to its resource-intensive nature in terms of time and cost. This method's accuracy of melanoma diagnosis is approximately