Abstract
Medical imaging models often operate as black boxes, limiting interpretability and systematic debugging. We introduce an easy-to-use, plug-and-play framework for concept-based interpretation and model refinement. By aligning a single-modality encoder to BioMedCLIP, we construct a Concept Bottleneck Model (CBM) that enables concept-level interventions. These interventions allow us to isolate causal versus spuriously correlated concepts, validate insights with domain experts, and generate counterfactual samples for targeted fine-tuning. We evaluate our framework on a Mayo Clinic ultrasound dataset and the CheXpert 5x200 chest X-ray dataset. Results demonstrate that concept intervention enables reliable model diagnosis while maintaining, and occasionally improving predictive performance via guided fine-tuning. Our findings highlight the practical value of this framework for controlled, interpretable refinement of clinical deep learning models.
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Publication details
- Journal
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- Open access
- Green open access
Cite this article
APA 7
Thapa, S., Quest, D. J., Kline, T. L., Langstraat, C. L., Trabuco, E. C., & Le, W. (2026). Beyond Explanation: Debugging Medical Imaging Models via Concept Intervention. https://omanscience.com/en/articles/beyond-explanation-debugging-medical-imaging-models-via-concept-intervention
MLA 9
Thapa, Samrajya, et al. "Beyond Explanation: Debugging Medical Imaging Models via Concept Intervention." https://omanscience.com/en/articles/beyond-explanation-debugging-medical-imaging-models-via-concept-intervention.
Chicago (author–date)
Thapa, Samrajya, Daniel J. Quest, Timothy L. Kline, Carrie L. Langstraat, Emanuel C. Trabuco, and Wei Le. 2026. "Beyond Explanation: Debugging Medical Imaging Models via Concept Intervention." https://omanscience.com/en/articles/beyond-explanation-debugging-medical-imaging-models-via-concept-intervention.
Harvard
Thapa, S., Quest, D. J., Kline, T. L., Langstraat, C. L., Trabuco, E. C. and Le, W. (2026) 'Beyond Explanation: Debugging Medical Imaging Models via Concept Intervention', Available at: https://omanscience.com/en/articles/beyond-explanation-debugging-medical-imaging-models-via-concept-intervention.
Vancouver
Thapa S, Quest DJ, Kline TL, Langstraat CL, Trabuco EC, Le W. Beyond Explanation: Debugging Medical Imaging Models via Concept Intervention. https://omanscience.com/en/articles/beyond-explanation-debugging-medical-imaging-models-via-concept-intervention
IEEE
S. Thapa, D. J. Quest, T. L. Kline, C. L. Langstraat, E. C. Trabuco, and W. Le, "Beyond Explanation: Debugging Medical Imaging Models via Concept Intervention," https://omanscience.com/en/articles/beyond-explanation-debugging-medical-imaging-models-via-concept-intervention.