LHW-Net: An ensemble-based machine learning framework for brain tumor classification

PLoS One. 2026 Apr 21;21(4):e0346821. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0346821. eCollection 2026.

Abstract

The classification of brain tumors is an unsolved problem associated with heterogeneity of tumors and fluctuations in imaging conditions. In this work, the investigation introduces a powerful novel framework, named LHW-Net that combines handcrafted features called local binary patterns (LBP), histogram of oriented gradients (HOG), and wavelet transform (WT). Within the LHW-Net framework, the extracted features are utilized in different machine learning classifiers, such as K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Classifier (SVC). The results of the individual classifiers are further combined using probabilistic score fusion approach to improve classification performance. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed work are validated by the achieved experimental results on commonly accepted benchmark datasets.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Brain Neoplasms* / classification
  • Brain Neoplasms* / diagnostic imaging
  • Brain Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Classification Algorithms
  • Ensemble Learning
  • Humans
  • Machine Learning*
  • Random Forest
  • Support Vector Machine