# Interpreting and Correcting Medical Image Classification with PIP-Net

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.10404 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.10404/

## Key facts

- Cited by 11 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 21 of its 42 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 19 Jul 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 21 of 21)

- [A ConvNet for the 2020s](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.03545/) (2022)
- [Shortcut Learning in Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.07780/) (2020)
- [This Looks Like That: Deep Learning for Interpretable Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.10574/) (2018)
- [Skin Lesion Analysis Toward Melanoma Detection 2018: A Challenge Hosted by the International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.03368/) (2019)
- [Last Layer Re-Training is Sufficient for Robustness to Spurious Correlations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.02937/) (2022)
- [Unmasking Clever Hans Predictors and Assessing What Machines Really Learn](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.10178/) (2019)
- [Right for the Right Reasons: Training Differentiable Models by Constraining their Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.03717/) (2017)
- [TrivialAugment: Tuning-free Yet State-of-the-Art Data Augmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.10158/) (2021)
- [Convolutional Neural Networks for Medical Image Analysis: Full Training or Fine Tuning?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.00712/) (2017)
- [Neural Prototype Trees for Interpretable Fine-grained Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.02046/) (2020)
- [Interpretations are useful: penalizing explanations to align neural networks with prior knowledge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.13584/) (2019)
- [What I Cannot Predict, I Do Not Understand: A Human-Centered Evaluation Framework for Explainability Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.04417/) (2021)
- [Interpretable Image Classification with Differentiable Prototypes Assignment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.02902/) (2021)
- [Transparency of Deep Neural Networks for Medical Image Analysis: A Review of Interpretability Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.02398/) (2021)
- [IAIA-BL: A Case-based Interpretable Deep Learning Model for Classification of Mass Lesions in Digital Mammography](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.12308/) (2021)
- [Deep Learning Predicts Hip Fracture using Confounding Patient and Healthcare Variables](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.03695/) (2018)
- [How Useful Are the Machine-Generated Interpretations to General Users? A Human Evaluation on Guessing the Incorrectly Predicted Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.11721/) (2020)
- [ProtoMIL: Multiple Instance Learning with Prototypical Parts for Whole-Slide Image Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.10612/) (2021)
- [Evaluating Explainable AI on a Multi-Modal Medical Imaging Task: Can Existing Algorithms Fulfill Clinical Requirements?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.06487/) (2022)
- [Reveal to Revise: An Explainable AI Life Cycle for Iterative Bias Correction of Deep Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12641/) (2023)
- [An Overview of Melanoma Detection in Dermoscopy Images Using Image Processing and Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1601.07843/) (2016)

## Built on by (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [Towards Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI): A Data Mining Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.04374/) (2024)
- [Dynamically Scaled Temperature in Self-Supervised Contrastive Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.01140/) (2023)
- [PIPNet3D: Interpretable Detection of Alzheimer in MRI Scans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.18328/) (2024)
- [This looks like what? Challenges and Future Research Directions for Part-Prototype Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.09340/) (2025)
- [Birds look like cars: Adversarial analysis of intrinsically interpretable deep learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.08636/) (2025)
- [Patch-based Intuitive Multimodal Prototypes Network (PIMPNet) for Alzheimer's Disease classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.14277/) (2024)
- [Revisiting FunnyBirds evaluation framework for prototypical parts networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.11401/) (2024)
- [Debugging Concept Bottleneck Models through Removal and Retraining](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.21385/) (2025)
- [Representing visual classification as a linear combination of words](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.10933/) (2023)
- [PiPViT: Patch-based Visual Interpretable Prototypes for Retinal Image Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.10669/) (2025)
- [Multimodal Feature Prototype Learning for Interpretable and Discriminative Cancer Survival Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.06113/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Part-prototype models are explainable-by-design image classifiers, and a promising alternative to black box AI. This paper explores the applicability and potential of interpretable machine learning, in particular PIP-Net, for automated diagnosis support on real-world medical imaging data. PIP-Net learns human-understandable prototypical image parts and we evaluate its accuracy and interpretability for fracture detection and skin cancer diagnosis. We find that PIP-Net's decision making process is in line with medical classification standards, while only provided with image-level class labels. Because of PIP-Net's unsupervised pretraining of prototypes, data quality problems such as undesired text in an X-ray or labelling errors can be easily identified. Additionally, we are the first to show that humans can manually correct the reasoning of PIP-Net by directly disabling undesired prototypes. We conclude that part-prototype models are promising for medical applications due to their interpretability and potential for advanced model debugging.