2020 International Conference on Computation, Automation and Knowledge Management (ICCAKM)
Amity University
A New Alzheimer's Disease Classification
Technique from Brain MRI images
Shashank Awasthi Eirtty Kapoor
G L Bajaj Institute of G L Bajaj Institute of Tech
Technology and Management, &Mgmt, Greater Noida, India
Greater Noida, India
shashankglbitm@gmail.com
Abstract— Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the most
common forms of dementia that leads to memory loss
mostly in elderly people. Treatment at the early stage of the
disease will lessen the progression rate of the disease and its
pathogenesis. Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) is gaining
popularity in recent years for the detection of AD. In this
study, we report a novel strategy for AD classification using
brain Magnetic Resonance (MR) Images. Ensemble
Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) was used to
decompose the image. From each decomposed image, the
statistical features and fractal based features were
extracted. Feature reduction has been performed using
Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The proposed
method was examined on publicly available data sets
(OASIS). Three different classifiers namely Logistic
regression, NaïveBayes, and support vector machine was
used in this work. The classification accuracy of each
classifier was reported and compared with the existing
methods. The average accuracy achieved was 92.34%. The
developed approach seems to be promising to develop
reliable and accurate devices for AD detection, and
classification.
Keywords— Alzheimer's Disease, Fractals, PCA, EEMD,
Classifiers
I. INTRODUCTION
Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is one of the alarming neuro-
degenerative diseases, which destroys neuronsin the
brain.It also impacts the analytical abilities of human and
results in considerable deterioration of memory.
Consequently, day to day activities of the patients is
affected to a great extent [1]. A recent analysis of the
World Alzheimer's Association shows that approximately
5.9 million people are suffering from AD in the United
States of America and it might reach
13.8 million by 2050 [2]. Though it is an incurable
disease, the rate of degeneration of the neurons can be
restrained by early diagnosis and proper treatment. [3,4].
Recent days the multi-modal brain MR images are used
to examine the morphological features of the brain and
the neurological disorders. Manual inspection of the brain
images to detect the disease are tedious and error-prone.
Moreover, it demands the expertise of a doctor/medical
person. Thus, the advancement of image processing
techniques for the identification of the disease would be
highly convenient. Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD)
will be much more accurate and will greatly assist the
neurologist to perceive the physiological changes in the
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978-1-7281-0666-3/20/$31.00©2020IEEE
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Goutam Sanyal
Arun Pratap Srivastava National Institute of Technology,
G L Bajaj Institute of Tech &Mgmt, Durgapur,WB, India
Greater Noida, India nitsanyal@gamil.com
brain. Some of the CAD-based studies for the
classification of Alzheimer's disease have been
documented in theliterature.
ChaturaphatTanchi et al [5] developed a mathematical
morphology based segmentation technique to filter out
non- brain matters from MR images of the brain and
subsequently used Naive Bayes classifier [6] to detect
AD. The said toolachieved an accuracy rate of 87%. Jun
Zhang et al. [7] proposed a method for AD diagnosis in
longitudinal structures of MR images using landmark-
based feature extraction technique, where tissue
segmentation was not required in the image pre-
processing stage. Linear SVM was used as a classifier
and finally, an accuracy of 88.03% was achieved. Siqi
Liu et.al [8] developed a Computer-aided diagnosis of
AD with deep learning framework. They used multi-
model brain MR images for experiments and extracted
the feature information with zero-masking for data
fusion. Both binary and multiclass classifiers were used
in their
studyandtheyachievedanoverallaccuracyof91.67%inthe
binary classifier and 86.98% in a multiclass classifier.
Shao- Liang wang et al. [9] proposed a spatial multi-scale
block local binary patterns(S-MB-LBP) method. This
proposed operator extracts the spatial texture information
from the brain MR image and achieved the accuracy of
88.33%. SaruarAlam et al. [10] used dual-tree wavelet
transform principle (DT CWT) for the classification of an
AD from healthy controls. Initially, an axial slice of the
MR image is collected, and DT CWT is applied. The
result is then passed through Principal component
analysis for dimensionality reduction. After reducing the
dimensions, twin SVM or
kernelSVMisusedforclassificationofimages.Experiments
were conducted on OASIS dataset. Sidra Minhas et
al.[11] proposed an auto-regression model for prediction
of AD. They used longitudinal data for training the
model. They used cross validation function and achieved
the highest accuracy of88.13%
According to the literature some of the studies
developed using segmentation techniques with the help
of morphological operators and hierarchical clustering,
feature extraction and classification were performed.
Majority of them based on feature extraction with
different methods (Landmark-based feature extraction,
scale invariant features extraction, visual local
descriptors, local binary pattern) followed by
classification. Moreover, only a few features are
2020 International Conference on Computation, Automation and Knowledge Management (ICCAKM)
Amity University
extracted and therefore there is scope to improve in (EEMD) is used to decompose image. Some statistical
number as well as more than one classifier can be feature and Fractal based feature are extracted for
experimented. So, a novel method has been presented classification.
in this work Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition

II. PROPOSEDMETHOD enhance the features before they are subjected to a

The key feature of the proposed method is its series of image processing techniques like feature
ability to combine statistical features with fractal extraction, feature reduction and classification. The
features to classify the MR images of the AD patients overall method is depicted in figure 1.
from the normal. The images will be preprocessed to

step 4: Assign IMF(k) as the kth mode of f(x,y), obtained as

the average of the corresponding IMFi(k).
I

IMF (k) =IMFi(k) (1)

i=1
Step 5: Reconstruct the signal according to the following
equation:
K
f (x,y)= IMF(k)+res(x,y)
k =0 (2)
I

res(k)= resi(k)
i=1 (3)
B. Feature Extraction

Different features were extracted from EEMD outputs of

each IMFs. In our experiment first three level of
decomposition was considered.
1. Mean of Zero Crossing
Max +Min
e1 = (4)
M ×N
Where e1is the mean of zero crossing distance, Max and Min
represents the number extrema points in upper and lower
bounds for a particular IMF.

2. Mean ofIMF
Fig. 1 Schematic view of the proposed method
1 M N

First step in brain MR image analysis starts with the e2= M ×N  A(i, j)
i=1 j =1
(5)

skull stripping [12]. After skull stripping the region of Where e2 is a standard deviation and A(i,j) is an
interest (ROI) will be selected. In this work, a rectangular instantaneous amplitude of (i,j) which is expressed in the
window of dynamic size is proposed to store the image as equation 6.
the size varies with the type of view. In OASIS, [13] the top
view MR image is of the size 176 X 208 pixels, front view
A(i, j) = max( upper(i, j) , lower (i, j) )
(6)
image is of the size 176 X 176 pixels and the side view is of = imf(i, j)
the size 208 X 176 pixels. The ROI image is further
improved by applying Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram
Equalization (CLAHE) technique[14]. The IMF's upper envelope and lower envelope of EEMD is
expressed as upper(i,j)and lower(i,j).
III. ENSEMBLE EMPIRICAL MODE DECOMPOSITION(EEMD)
The Ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) 3. Standard deviation
[15] is an extended form of EMD [16]. The EMD is having
mode mixing problem to overcome this issue EEMD is MN
e3 = 1
proposed. Multi-model image decomposing work based on
decomposing the input image into different Intrinsic Mode M ×N
 ( A(i, j) −e )
i=1 j =1
2
2 (7)

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2020 International Conference on Computation, Automation and Knowledge Management (ICCAKM)
Amity University
proposed work three different fractal features has been
Function(IMF’s)[17]. For each IMF will have inner details extracted and analyzed for AD classification. In the
about the image, In EMD, the decomposed image signals differential box counting method the given image will be
are broadly dissimilar in nature so finding the useful representedin3dimensionalspace.Thepixelindexeswillbe
information is difficult in it. This occurs because of Mode denoted as x,y plane and the individual pixel intensityvalues
mixing. The EEMD will have one dimensional image will be denoted as z plane. Differential box counting works
signals with white noise of fixed amplitude. So it will by dividing the input image into fixed size windows (scaling
preserve the information in the decomposedimage. factor s). Where, s is defined over the range 1>s<= N/2 (N is
size of the image). The fractal dimension is calculated by
A. Algorithm number of boxes required to cover the fractals in the z plane.
step 1: Initialize the number of Ensemble I. This will be repeated for different scaling factors anda
step 2: Generate Hi(x,y) = f(x,y) + whitenoise logarithmic slope of best fitting least square linear fit function
step3: Each Hi(x,y) where (i=1,2,3,....k) is decomposed gives the fractal dimension which is given in the equation 8.
using classical empirical mode decomposition for find the log( N)
IMFi(k) where (k=1,2,3,...n) denotes kth
C. Ground TruthData
mode.FractalFeatures
The experiments were carried out with ground truth
Differential box counting [18] method based fractal images available at public database Open Access Series of
descriptor Fractals are self-similar structures in nature. Imaging Studies (OASIS) [13]. The database contains 416
Fractal study is introduced by Mandelbrot et [19]. In the
FD = (8) subjects out of which 160 subjects were male and 256
1 subjects were female. All the subjects were right handed. All
log( )
the subjects where marked with Clinical Dementia Rating
r (CDR) [23] and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)
Where, N denotes number of boxes required covering the [24] based on single visit or more than one visits separated
fractal and r is the box length. Total 27 features have been by at least one year. 206 subjects were with CDR value 0
extracted from the 3 different IMFs of each input image. We which indicates non-demented. 123 subjects were marked
have calculated reduced number factors using Principal with the CDR value 0.5 (very mild dementia) remaining 43
Component Analysis (PCA). For each normal image andAD (CDR value 1 and 2) were marked with moderate to high
image Alzheimer's disease.

IV. CLASSIFICATION TABLEI. DIFFERENT CLASSIFIER WITH PCA AND PERCENTAGE OF

CLASSIFICATION
In this study we have used three different classifiers for
AD classification, namely Logistic Regression (LR) [20], S. No Method of Logistic Naïve Support
Naïve Byes Classifier (NBC) [21] and Support Vector Classification Regression Base Vector
Machines (SVM) [22]. From the ground truth data two (%) classifier Machine
(%) (%)
different classes has been marked one is normal control
(healthy) subjects and other one Alzheimer’s. The 1 EEMD + PCA 5 81.00 79.88 92.34
performance of each classifier is analysed and reported in
2 EEMD + PCA 6 82.44 81.44 88.78
the table1.
3 EEMD + PCA 7 81.33 79.33 88.78
A. Linear Regression(LR)
LR is indented to binary classification (0 – normal image, 4 EEMD + PCA 8 81.00 77.77 87.22
1 Alzheimer’s image). It works based on statistical
techniques to estimate distinct values with the help of asset Figures 2 through 5 depict classifier response with
of independent variables. The logit model [20] of the LR is variouscombinationsoffeaturevectors.Table1tabulatesthe
defined in the equation9. performance of various classifiers with different
combination so multi-modal feature extraction techniques.
P  n As seen from the table, when the SVM classifier is trained
log it(P) = ln =β +βixii=1
  0 with EEMD (+ PCA 5) features the accuracy level of binary
 1−P  (9) classification is highest. It may also be noted that, for the
same dataset, the performance ofmulti-modal decomposition

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2020 International Conference on Computation, Automation and Knowledge Management (ICCAKM)
Amity University
Where β0 is the intercept, β1, β2, β3, β4, βn are the by thehyperplane.based feature extraction renders higher
regression coefficients and x1, x2, x3, x4,...........xn are detection accuracy. Intuitively, rigorous training of the
feature vectors. The probability of occurrence of any classifier with large amount of data as well as feature sets
event will be 0 or 1. Maximum likelihood estimator [25] would provide improved accuracy levels.
is used to estimate β1, β2, β3, β4, βn.

B. Naïve Bayes Classifier(NBC)

NBC is an efficient classifier that works based on
Bayes theorem and is suitable for large data sets [23]. It
is ideal when the existence of a particular feature in a
class is distinct to the existence of any other feature. It
calculates the posterior probability by merging the
training sample with a priori information and the highest
value will be the outcome of theclassifier.

C. Support Vector Machine(SVM)

Support Vector Machines are used in machine
learning that are used for classification and regression
analysis which use ssupervised learning algorithms.
Given a training dataset SVM uses supervised learning
algorithms to classify new datasets. The new dataset sare
categorized into either one of the two classes. The
training data sets create a hyperplane. A hyperplane is a Fig. 4 Comparison of different classifiers EEMD with PCA 7 features
line which divides the plane into two different parts
where each part represents a class. The new sets are
categorized as either one of the classes that were created

Fig. 5 Comparison of different classifiers EEMD with PCA6

Fig. 2 Comparison of different classifiers EEMD with features
PCA 5 features
Figure 6 and 9 shows (a) input image, (b) skull stripped
image, (c) ROI Image and (d) CLAHE image of normal control
and Alzheimer’s respectively. The 7, 8, 9 and 10 shows the
corresponding first, second and third level(IMF’s) decomposed
images.

Fig. 6 (a) Input Image (b) Skull stripped image (c) ROI Image (d)
CLAHE Image
Fig. 3 Comparison of different classifiers EEMD with PCA 6
features

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2020 International Conference on Computation, Automation and Knowledge Management (ICCAKM)
Amity University
improvement in CAD
Fig. 7 (a) 1st IMF image (b) 2nd IMF image (c) 3rd IMF image
Fig. 8 (a) 1st IMF image (b) 2nd IMF image (c) 3rd IMF image
Fig. 9 (a) Input Image (b) Skull stripped image (c) ROI Image (d)
CLAHE Image
Fig. 10 (a) 1st IMF image (b) 2nd IMF image (c) 3rd IMF image
Fig. 11 (a) 1st IMF image (b) 2nd IMF image (c) 3rd IMF image
subject image (CDR 0) front view, Table 2 shows the
performance of the proposed method with the existing
methods. The SVM in combination with the EEMD
PCA5 provides the maximum accuracy rate of 92.34% in
binary classification.
x Method Detection Rate Classifier
1 ChaturaphatTanchi 87% Navie Bayes
et.al [5]
2 Jun Zhang et.al [7] 88.03 % Linear SVM
3 Sarwinda, D. et.al [25] 84 % kNN
4 Shao-Liang Wang 88.33%
et.al[26]
5 Proposed Method 92.34 % SVM
V. CONCLUSION
The proposed method uses multimodal image decomposition
technique EEMD to decompose into different IMF’s.
Combining the fractal features and statistical features
differentiates the normal controlled subjects from Alzheimer’s
to great extent. PCA reduces the redundant feature from the
feature set and provides only 5 to 8 features which will be used
for classification. This method is so accurate that it takes
smaller changes into consideration leading to precise diagnosis.
The three different classifiers with large dataset (1248 image)
make this a robust strategy for diagnosing Alzheimer disease.
Among the performance LR, NBC and SVM classifiers, the
SVM classifier shown the better performance compared to
others. Compared to existing methods the proposed method
found to be more accurate and demonstrated greater
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