# PathMoE: Interpretable Multimodal Interaction Experts for Pediatric Brain Tumor Classification Source: [PathMoE: Interpretable Multimodal Interaction Experts for Pediatric Brain Tumor Classification]() Collection index: [llms.txt]() Data updated: 2026-03-04T05:00:12.635Z Authors: Jian Yu, Joakim Nguyen, Jinrui Fang, Awais Naeem, Zeyuan Cao, Sanjay Krishnan, Nicholas Konz, Tianlong Chen, Chandra Krishnan, Hairong Wang, Edward Castillo, Ying Ding, Ankita Shukla Published: 2026-03-02T07:17:44.000Z ## Abstract Accurate classification of pediatric central nervous system tumors remains challenging due to histological complexity and limited training data. While pathology foundation models have advanced whole-slide image (WSI) analysis, they often fail to leverage the rich, complementary information found in clinical text and tissue microarchitecture. To this end, we propose PathMoE, an interpretable multimodal framework that integrates H\\&E slides, pathology reports, and nuclei-level cell graphs via an interaction-aware mixture-of-experts architecture built on state-of-the-art foundation models for each modality. By training specialized experts to capture modality uniqueness, redundancy, and synergy, PathMoE employs an input-dependent gating mechanism that dynamically weights these interactions, providing sample-level interpretability. We evaluate our framework on two dataset-specific classification tasks on an internal pediatric brain tumor dataset (PBT) and external TCGA datasets. PathMoE improves macro-F1 from 0.762 to 0.799 (+0.037) on PBT when integrating WSI, text, and graph modalities; on TCGA, augmenting WSI with graph knowledge improves macro-F1 from 0.668 to 0.709 (+0.041). These results demonstrate significant performance gains over state-of-the-art image-only baselines while revealing the specific modality interactions driving individual predictions. This interpretability is particularly critical for rare tumor subtypes, where transparent model reasoning is essential for clinical trust and diagnostic validation. ## 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. - [Brain Tumor Classification on TCGA](): Brain tumor classification; TCGA; Oligo Precision: 77.9. - [CNS Tumor Classification on TCGA Adult Glioma cohort](): CNS tumor classification; TCGA Adult Glioma cohort; F1 (LG): 85.3. - [CNS Tumor Classification on PBT](): CNS tumor classification; PBT; Ependymoma F1: 60. ## Original sources and implementation [Original paper]() [PDF]()