A Verifiable Framework for Brain Tumor Classification: Combining Vision Transformers, Class-Weighted Learning, and...

Background/Objectives: Automated brain tumor classification from MRI is particularly challenging when restricted to single post-contrast axial T1-weighted slices without volumetric or clinical context. Methods: We present a four-class (glioma, meningioma, pituitary tumor, no tumor) slice-level classification framework that combines a fine-tuned Swin-Tiny Transformer with inverse-frequency class-weighted learning and a prototype SMT-based symbolic auditing layer for post hoc logical consistency checks. All architectures were trained and evaluated under identical preprocessing, augmentation, optimization, and evaluation protocols. Results: On an internal clinical dataset from Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University Hospital (n = 8040 slices), Swin-Tiny achieved 97.42% slice-level accuracy (macro-F1 97.42%, macro-AUC 0.994), exceeding matched convolutional baselines by approximately eight percentage points. Five-fold stratified cross-validation confirmed stability (mean accuracy 97.40% ± 0.28%). Zero-shot evaluation on the independent BRISC-2025 dataset (n = 6000 slices) yielded 94.82% accuracy and macro-AUC 0.97, indicating maintained performance under acquisition-related distribution shift. Per-class metrics were consistently high across tumor types, with residual errors dominated by glioma-meningioma confusion, reflecting known radiologic overlap on single contrast-enhanced T1 slices. The symbolic auditing layer flagged 1.2-2.9% of predictions as constraint-violating; most such cases were borderline but correctly classified, suggesting sensitivity of heuristic thresholds rather than systematic model failure. Conclusions: These findings support the value of hierarchical shifted-window attention for integrating local texture and broader spatial context in slice-level MRI classification. While patient-wise, multimodal, and prospective validation remain necessary for clinical deployment, this study provides a controlled empirical benchmark and a prototype mechanism for post hoc logical auditing in neuro-oncologic imaging.