# On dataset transferability in medical image classification

Source: [On dataset transferability in medical image classification](<https://www.sota2.com/research/paper/68fa76751e209131cea6d21b>)

Collection index: [llms.txt](<https://www.sota2.com/research/llms.txt>)

Data updated: 2025-10-26T03:54:27.044Z

Authors: Dovile Juodelyte, Enzo Ferrante, Yucheng Lu, Prabhant Singh, Joaquin Vanschoren, Veronika Cheplygina

Published: 2024-12-28T15:00:04.000Z

## Abstract

Current transferability estimation methods designed for natural image datasets are often suboptimal in medical image classification. These methods primarily focus on estimating the suitability of pre-trained source model features for a target dataset, which can lead to unrealistic predictions, such as suggesting that the target dataset is the best source for itself. To address this, we propose a novel transferability metric that combines feature quality with gradients to evaluate both the suitability and adaptability of source model features for target tasks. We evaluate our approach in two new scenarios: source dataset transferability for medical image classification and cross-domain transferability. Our results show that our method outperforms existing transferability metrics in both settings. We also provide insight into the factors influencing transfer performance in medical image classification, as well as the dynamics of cross-domain transfer from natural to medical images. Additionally, we provide ground-truth transfer performance benchmarking results to encourage further research into transferability estimation for medical image classification. Our code and experiments are available at https://github.com/DovileDo/transferability-in-medical-imaging.

## Recorded benchmark results

A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage.

## Original sources and implementation

[Original paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.20172>)

[PDF](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/2412.20172.pdf>)