WoundNet-Ensemble: A Novel IoMT System Integrating Self-Supervised Deep Learning and Multi-Model Fusion for Automated, High-Accuracy Wound Classification and Healing Progression Monitoring
Chronic wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers which affect up to one-third of people with diabetes, impose a substantial clinical and economic burden, with U.S. healthcare costs exceeding 25 billion dollars annually. Current wound assessment remains predominantly subjective, leading to inconsistent classification and delayed interventions. We present WoundNet-Ensemble, an Internet of Medical Things system leveraging a novel ensemble of three complementary deep learning architectures: ResNet-50, the self-supervised Vision Transformer DINOv2, and Swin Transformer, for automated classification of six clinically distinct wound types. Our system achieves 99.90 percent ensemble accuracy on a comprehensive dataset of 5,175 wound images spanning diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers, venous ulcers, thermal burns, pilonidal sinus wounds, and fungating malignant tumors. The weighted fusion strategy demonstrates a 3.7 percent improvement over previous state-of-the-art methods. Furthermore, we implement a longitudinal wound healing tracker that computes healing rates, severity scores, and generates clinical alerts. This work demonstrates a robust, accurate, and clinically deployable tool for modernizing wound care through artificial intelligence, addressing critical needs in telemedicine and remote patient monitoring. The implementation and trained models will be made publicly available to support reproducibility.