# DWARF: Disease-weighted network for attention map refinement

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.17032 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.17032/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 19 of its 30 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Jun 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 19 of 19)

- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [Grad-CAM: Visual Explanations from Deep Networks via Gradient-based Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.02391/) (2016)
- [Axiomatic Attribution for Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.01365/) (2017)
- [Shortcut Learning in Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.07780/) (2020)
- [SmoothGrad: removing noise by adding noise](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03825/) (2017)
- [VinDr-CXR: An open dataset of chest X-rays with radiologist's annotations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.15029/) (2020)
- [Tell Me Where to Look: Guided Attention Inference Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.10171/) (2018)
- [Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) in deep learning-based medical image analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.10912/) (2021)
- [Knowledge-enhanced Visual-Language Pre-training on Chest Radiology Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.14042/) (2023)
- [AlignTransformer: Hierarchical Alignment of Visual Regions and Disease Tags for Medical Report Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.10095/) (2022)
- [ChestX-Det10: Chest X-ray Dataset on Detection of Thoracic Abnormalities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.10550/) (2020)
- [A Structure-Aware Relation Network for Thoracic Diseases Detection and Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.10326/) (2021)
- [Explainable Deep Learning Methods in Medical Image Classification: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.04766/) (2022)
- [Explainable Medical Imaging AI Needs Human-Centered Design: Guidelines and Evidence from a Systematic Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.12596/) (2021)
- [Voila-A: Aligning Vision-Language Models with User's Gaze Attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.09454/) (2023)
- [Foundation Ark: Accruing and Reusing Knowledge for Superior and Robust Performance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.09507/) (2023)
- [DeViDe: Faceted medical knowledge for improved medical vision-language pre-training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.03618/) (2024)
- [Learning Anatomically Consistent Embedding for Chest Radiography](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.00335/) (2023)
- [Explainable AI applications in the Medical Domain: a systematic review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.05411/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [LiteGPT: Large Vision-Language Model for Joint Chest X-ray Localization and Classification Task](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.12064/) (2024)
- [On the Interplay of Human-AI Alignment,Fairness, and Performance Trade-offs in Medical Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.10231/) (2025)
- [XBench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Visual-Language Explanations in Chest Radiography](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.19599/) (2025)
- [Hybrid Explanation-Guided Learning for Transformer-Based Chest X-Ray Diagnosis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.12704/) (2025)
- [HarMoE: Multi-Source Chest Radiograph Pretraining with Dataset-Disentangled Experts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.02252/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The interpretability of deep learning is crucial for evaluating the reliability of medical imaging models and reducing the risks of inaccurate patient recommendations. This study addresses the "human out of the loop" and "trustworthiness" issues in medical image analysis by integrating medical professionals into the interpretability process. We propose a disease-weighted attention map refinement network (DWARF) that leverages expert feedback to enhance model relevance and accuracy. Our method employs cyclic training to iteratively improve diagnostic performance, generating precise and interpretable feature maps. Experimental results demonstrate significant improvements in interpretability and diagnostic accuracy across multiple medical imaging datasets. This approach fosters effective collaboration between AI systems and healthcare professionals, ultimately aiming to improve patient outcomes