Skin lesion classification from dermoscopic images remains difficult because diagnostically important lesions may share similar colours, textures, and structural patterns. Fine local details and broader lesion characteristics must therefore be considered together to achieve reliable multi-class classification. This study presents a noise-aware and statistically evaluated dual-branch hybrid quantum-classical framework that combines EfficientNet-B3 features, handcrafted dermatological descriptors, and parameterized quantum circuits. A 6-qubit branch processes micro-level textural information, while a 4-qubit branch represents broader structural characteristics. The resulting quantum features are combined with deep visual representations and handcrafted descriptors based on texture, colour, and lesion complexity. The framework was evaluated using stratified five-fold cross-validation and repeated experiments with different random initialization seeds. On HAM10000, it achieved a mean accuracy of 95.18%
± 0.75 %, a mean balanced accuracy of 92.92%
± 0.89 %, and a mean macro-F1 score of
0.904 ± 0.009 . A separate training and evaluation experiment on ISIC-2019 produced an accuracy of 93.86% and a macro-F1 score of 0.913, indicating consistent performance across two independently evaluated dermoscopic datasets. The effect of non-ideal quantum operation was also examined by introducing depolarizing noise during evaluation. The model retained accuracies of 94.13% at
p=0.01 and 93.21% at
p=0.05 . These findings show that combining deep features, dermatological descriptors, and dual-scale quantum representations can improve the discrimination of visually similar lesion categories, including melanoma. The proposed framework provides a statistically reliable and noise-resilient approach for computer-aided dermoscopic image classification, although further external and clinical validation is required before practical clinical use.
This article investigates the compelling parallels between the Vedantic doctrine of Māyā—which describes the phenomenal world as an illusory projection obscuring the non-dual reality of Brahman—and foundational principles in quantum mechanics, particularly those related to measurement and the observer effect. Rooted in Advaita Vedānta, Māyā challenges the reliability of sensory experience and posits consciousness as the substratum of existence. Similarly, quantum theory reveals that the act of observation influences the behaviour of physical systems, as exemplified by wavefunction collapse and quantum indeterminacy. Through a comparative philosophical and scientific inquiry, this article examines how both traditions confront the nature of reality, the limitations of empirical knowledge, and the centrality of the observer. The study highlights convergences in ontological and epistemological concerns, suggesting that despite their methodological differences, Vedānta and quantum mechanics collectively invite a more integrated metaphysical framework for understanding reality.