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The process is traditionally time-consuming and laborious. Taking advantage of deep learning models, assisting the pathologist in the diagnosis process is possible. In this work, a study was carried out based on the DenseNet neural network. It consisted of changing its architecture through combinations of Transformer and MBConv blocks to investigate its impact on classifying histopathological images of penile cancer. Due to the limited number of samples in this dataset, pre-training is performed on another larger lung and colon cancer histopathological image dataset. Various combinations of these architectural components were systematically evaluated to compare their performance. The results indicate significant improvements in feature representation, demonstrating the effectiveness of these combined elements resulting in an F1-Score of up to 95.78%. Its diagnostic performance confirms the importance of deep learning techniques in men\u2019s health.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/app142210536","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,15]],"date-time":"2024-11-15T04:47:17Z","timestamp":1731646037000},"page":"10536","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Building a DenseNet-Based Neural Network with Transformer and MBConv Blocks for Penile Cancer Classification"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Marcos Gabriel Mendes","family":"Lauande","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Applied Computing Group (NCA-UFMA), Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-805, MA, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3731-6431","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Geraldo","family":"Braz Junior","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Applied Computing Group (NCA-UFMA), Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-805, MA, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7013-9700","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jo\u00e3o Dallyson Sousa","family":"de Almeida","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Applied Computing Group (NCA-UFMA), Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-805, MA, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0423-2514","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Arist\u00f3fanes Corr\u00eaa","family":"Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Applied Computing Group (NCA-UFMA), Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-805, MA, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2151-2449","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rui Miguel","family":"Gil da Costa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Postgraduate Program in Adult Health\/PPGSAD, Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-085, MA, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Amanda Mara","family":"Teles","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Postgraduate Program in Adult Health\/PPGSAD, Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-085, MA, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Leandro Lima","family":"da Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Postgraduate Program in Adult Health\/PPGSAD, Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-085, MA, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Haissa Oliveira","family":"Brito","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Postgraduate Program in Adult Health\/PPGSAD, Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-085, MA, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4721-6824","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fl\u00e1via Castello Branco","family":"Vidal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Postgraduate Program in Adult Health\/PPGSAD, Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-085, MA, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Jo\u00e3o Guilherme Ara\u00fajo","family":"do Vale","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Applied Computing Group (NCA-UFMA), Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-805, MA, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Jos\u00e9 Ribamar Durand","family":"Rodrigues Junior","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Applied Computing Group (NCA-UFMA), Federal University of Maranh\u00e3o, S\u00e3o Lu\u00eds 65080-805, MA, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3458-7693","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ant\u00f3nio","family":"Cunha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Science and Technology, University of Tr\u00e1s-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal"},{"name":"ALGORITMI Research Centre, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"ACS (2024, June 13). 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