Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering Innovations (JECEI) 2322-3952 14 2 2026 01 01 Bridging the Speed–Accuracy Gap: RT-DETR versus YOLOv8s for Real-Time Brain MRI Tumor Detection 311 326 2543 10.22061/jecei.2026.12463.883 EN Amir Mahdi Sedghi Computer Engineering Department, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran. Shahla Nemati Computer Engineering Department, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran. Journal Article 2025 11 03 <strong>Background and Objectives:</strong> Brain tumor detection in MRI images is critical for early diagnosis and effective treatment, yet manual interpretation is time-consuming and prone to variability. Deep learning models such as YOLO have advanced real-time object detection, but their speed–accuracy tradeoff remains a challenge for medical tasks involving small or low-contrast lesions. The potential of transformer-based detectors like RT-DETR to simultaneously improve accuracy and maintain real-time speed in clinical settings is not well established.<br /><strong>Methods:</strong> This study performed a controlled head-to-head comparison between the proposed model (RT-DETR-L-based model) and the YOLOv8s models using a curated, single-class brain tumor MRI dataset of 300 images. Both models were trained and evaluated under identical conditions with comprehensive data augmentation strategies, and their performance was assessed using standard object detection metrics including precision, recall, specificity, and mean Average Precision (mAP) across multiple IoU thresholds.<br /><strong>Results: </strong>The proposed model achieved higher localization fidelity and overall accuracy compared to YOLOv8s, with mAP@0.5:0.95 of 0.493 versus 0.421 and mAP@0.5 of 0.963 versus 0.941. Precision and specificity for the proposed model reached 1.000, eliminating false positives, while recall was slightly lower than YOLOv8s (0.925 vs. 0.932), indicating a marginal increase in missed detections. Qualitative analysis confirmed robust detection across various tumor sizes and intensities, though some small or low-contrast lesions were missed.<br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Proposed model surpasses YOLOv8s in accuracy and specificity for real-time brain tumor detection in MRI images, offering a promising balance between speed and precision. However, its slightly lower recall underscores the need for further refinement to minimize false negatives. The findings suggest transformer-based detectors can narrow the speed–accuracy gap in medical imaging, but broader validation and optimization for resource-constrained environments are required for clinical deployment. Future work should focus on enhancing sensitivity and generalizability through advanced augmentation, larger datasets, and ensemble approaches. https://jecei.sru.ac.ir/article_2543_b9df60273e18e6d5b0974aed0c9ddc27.pdf