Feature reduction for hepatocellular carcinoma prediction using machine learning algorithms

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly prevalent form of liver cancer that necessitates accurate prediction models for early diagnosis and effective treatment. Machine learning algorithms have demonstrated promising results in various medical domains, including cancer prediction. In this study, we propose a comprehensive approach for HCC prediction by comparing the performance of different machine learning algorithms before and after applying feature reduction methods. We employ popular feature reduction techniques, such as weighting features, hidden features correlation, feature selection, and optimized selection, to extract a reduced feature subset that captures the most relevant information related to HCC. Subsequently, we apply multiple algorithms, including Naive Bayes, support vector machines (SVM), Neural Networks, Decision Tree, and K nearest neighbors (KNN), to both the original high-dimensional dataset and the reduced feature set. By comparing the predictive accuracy, precision, F Score, recall, and execution time of each algorithm, we assess the effectiveness of feature reduction in enhancing the performance of HCC prediction models. Our experimental results, obtained using a comprehensive dataset comprising clinical features of HCC patients, demonstrate that feature reduction significantly improves the performance of all examined algorithms. Notably, the reduced feature set consistently outperforms the original high-dimensional dataset in terms of prediction accuracy and execution time. After applying feature reduction techniques, the employed algorithms, namely decision trees, Naive Bayes, KNN, neural networks, and SVM achieved accuracies of 96%, 97.33%, 94.67%, 96%, and 96.00%, respectively.