# A Data Augmented Approach to Transfer Learning for Covid-19 Detection

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.02870 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.02870/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 25 of its 58 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 5 Aug 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 25 of 25)

- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.0575/) (2014)
- [Going Deeper with Convolutions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.4842/) (2014)
- [CheXpert: A Large Chest Radiograph Dataset with Uncertainty Labels and Expert Comparison](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.07031/) (2019)
- [COVID-Net: A Tailored Deep Convolutional Neural Network Design for Detection of COVID-19 Cases from Chest X-Ray Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.09871/) (2020)
- [COVID-19 Image Data Collection: Prospective Predictions Are the Future](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11988/) (2020)
- [Covid-19: Automatic detection from X-Ray images utilizing Transfer Learning with Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.11617/) (2020)
- [Automatic Detection of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Using X-ray Images and Deep Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.10849/) (2020)
- [CoroNet: A deep neural network for detection and diagnosis of COVID-19 from chest x-ray images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.04931/) (2020)
- [Deep-COVID: Predicting COVID-19 From Chest X-Ray Images Using Deep Transfer Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.09363/) (2020)
- [CovidGAN: Data Augmentation Using Auxiliary Classifier GAN for Improved Covid-19 Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.05094/) (2021)
- [COVIDX-Net: A Framework of Deep Learning Classifiers to Diagnose COVID-19 in X-Ray Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.11055/) (2020)
- [Classification of COVID-19 in chest X-ray images using DeTraC deep convolutional neural network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.13815/) (2020)
- [COVID-ResNet: A Deep Learning Framework for Screening of COVID19 from Radiographs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.14395/) (2020)
- [Iteratively Pruned Deep Learning Ensembles for COVID-19 Detection in Chest X-rays](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.08379/) (2020)
- [Predicting COVID-19 Pneumonia Severity on Chest X-ray with Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.11856/) (2020)
- [Finding Covid-19 from Chest X-rays using Deep Learning on a Small Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.02060/) (2020)
- [Deep Learning for Screening COVID-19 using Chest X-Ray Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.10507/) (2020)
- [Automated diagnosis of COVID-19 with limited posteroanterior chest X-ray images using fine-tuned deep neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.11676/) (2020)
- [Improving performance of CNN to predict likelihood of COVID-19 using chest X-ray images with preprocessing algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.12229/) (2020)
- [Coronavirus (COVID-19) Classification using CT Images by Machine Learning Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.09424/) (2020)
- [Towards an Effective and Efficient Deep Learning Model for COVID-19 Patterns Detection in X-ray Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.05717/) (2020)
- [A Deep Convolutional Neural Network for COVID-19 Detection Using Chest X-Rays](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.01578/) (2020)
- [A Preliminary Study on Data Augmentation of Deep Learning for Image Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.11887/) (2019)
- [Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks to Diagnose COVID-19 From Chest X-Ray Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.09695/) (2020)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Covid-19 detection at an early stage can aid in an effective treatment and isolation plan to prevent its spread. Recently, transfer learning has been used for Covid-19 detection using X-ray, ultrasound, and CT scans. One of the major limitations inherent to these proposed methods is limited labeled dataset size that affects the reliability of Covid-19 diagnosis and disease progression. In this work, we demonstrate that how we can augment limited X-ray images data by using Contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) to train the last layer of the pre-trained deep learning models to mitigate the bias of transfer learning for Covid-19 detection. We transfer learned various pre-trained deep learning models including AlexNet, ZFNet, VGG-16, ResNet-18, and GoogLeNet, and fine-tune the last layer by using CLAHE-augmented dataset. The experiment results reveal that the CLAHE-based augmentation to various pre-trained deep learning models significantly improves the model efficiency. The pre-trained VCG-16 model with CLAHEbased augmented images achieves a sensitivity of 95% using 15 epochs. AlexNet works show good sensitivity when trained on non-augmented data. Other models demonstrate a value of less than 60% when trained on non-augmented data. Our results reveal that the sample bias can negatively impact the performance of transfer learning which is significantly improved by using CLAHE-based augmentation.