Research Article

Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis

Volume: 11 Number: 2 December 31, 2025
TR EN

Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis

Abstract

Oral Cancer (OC) has become a critical public health problem, with its increasing prevalence worldwide and high mortality rate when diagnosed late. Tobacco and alcohol use, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infections, and various environmental factors play a significant role in the development of the disease. Early detection of the disease significantly improves treatment success and quality of life. However, traditional clinical examinations and manual assessment methods are both time-consuming and can lead to high misclassification rates due to expert dependency. In this study, a deep learning-based hybrid approach for the automatic classification of OC is proposed. The proposed model utilizes different variants of the Visual Geometry Group (VGG) architecture, namely VGG11, VGG13, VGG16, and VGG19, to extract deep features from OC images. The resulting deep features were processed with various classifiers, including Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), K-Nearest Neighbors (kNN), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Random Forest (RF), and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM), and a comprehensive experimental analysis was conducted. Experimental findings demonstrate that the VGG19+SVM hybrid model, in particular, demonstrated superior performance, achieving the highest AUC score (0.9144) for inter-class discrimination. Furthermore, the VGG19+LGBM model achieved the highest accuracy rate (0.9158), demonstrating strong classification performance. The results demonstrate that VGG-based deep feature extraction provides high accuracy and strong discrimination in OC classification. These findings demonstrate that the proposed hybrid approach is a reliable diagnostic tool that can be effectively used in clinical decision support systems.

Keywords

References

  1. Alosaimi, W., & Uddin, M. I. (2022). Efficient data augmentation techniques for improved classification in limited dataset of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, 131, 1387–1401.
  2. Chang, X., Yu, M., Liu, R., Jing, R., Ding, J., Xia, J., Zhu, Z., Li, X., Yao, Q., Zhu, L., & Zhang, T. (2023). Deep learning methods for oral cancer detection using Raman spectroscopy. Vibrational Spectroscopy, 126, 103522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vibspec.2023.103522
  3. Das, M., Dash, R., & Mishra, S. K. (2023). Automatic detection of oral squamous cell carcinoma from histopathological images of oral mucosa using deep convolutional neural network. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), 2131. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032131
  4. Fu, Q., Chen, Y., Li, Z., Jing, Q., Hu, C., Liu, H., ... & Xiong, X. (2020). A deep learning algorithm for detection of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma from photographic images: A retrospective study. EClinicalMedicine, 27, 100558. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100558
  5. Gomes, R. F. T., Schmith, J., Figueiredo, R. M. D., Freitas, S. A., Machado, G. N., Romanini, J., & Carrard, V. C. (2023). Use of artificial intelligence in the classification of elementary oral lesions from clinical images. International journal of environmental research and public health, 20(5), 3894.
  6. Huang, Q., Ding, H., & Razmjooy, N. (2023). Optimal deep learning neural network using ISSA for diagnosing the oral cancer. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 84, 104749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bspc.2023.104749
  7. Huang, Q., Ding, H., & Razmjooy, N. (2024). Oral cancer detection using convolutional neural network optimized by combined seagull optimization algorithm. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 87, 105546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bspc.2023.105546
  8. Kabir, M. F., Ahmad, M. Y., Uddin, R., Cordero, M., & Kant, S. (2025). Accurate and lightweight oral cancer detection using SE-MobileViT on clinically validated image dataset. Discover Artificial Intelligence, 5, 173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44163-025-00442-2

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Software Engineering (Other)

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

December 31, 2025

Submission Date

December 2, 2025

Acceptance Date

December 9, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 11 Number: 2

APA
Baydogan, C. (2025). Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis. Kirklareli University Journal of Engineering and Science, 11(2), 320-335. https://doi.org/10.34186/klujes.1834277
AMA
1.Baydogan C. Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis. Kirklareli University Journal of Engineering and Science. 2025;11(2):320-335. doi:10.34186/klujes.1834277
Chicago
Baydogan, Cem. 2025. “Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis”. Kirklareli University Journal of Engineering and Science 11 (2): 320-35. https://doi.org/10.34186/klujes.1834277.
EndNote
Baydogan C (December 1, 2025) Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis. Kirklareli University Journal of Engineering and Science 11 2 320–335.
IEEE
[1]C. Baydogan, “Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis”, Kirklareli University Journal of Engineering and Science, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 320–335, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.34186/klujes.1834277.
ISNAD
Baydogan, Cem. “Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis”. Kirklareli University Journal of Engineering and Science 11/2 (December 1, 2025): 320-335. https://doi.org/10.34186/klujes.1834277.
JAMA
1.Baydogan C. Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis. Kirklareli University Journal of Engineering and Science. 2025;11:320–335.
MLA
Baydogan, Cem. “Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis”. Kirklareli University Journal of Engineering and Science, vol. 11, no. 2, Dec. 2025, pp. 320-35, doi:10.34186/klujes.1834277.
Vancouver
1.Cem Baydogan. Hybrid Deep Learning Strategies Leveraging Cutting-Edge VGG Architectures for Advanced Oral Cancer Diagnosis. Kirklareli University Journal of Engineering and Science. 2025 Dec. 1;11(2):320-35. doi:10.34186/klujes.1834277