Automatic method for assessment of proliferation index in digital images of DLBCL tissue section

Publication date: Available online 29 September 2018Source: Biocybernetics and Biomedical EngineeringAuthor(s): Ryszard S. Gomolka, Anna Korzynska, Krzysztof Siemion, Karolina Gabor-Siatkowska, Wlodzimierz KlonowskiAbstractDiffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a fast-growing and aggressive neoplasm originating from B lymphocytes. Evaluation of proliferation index (PI) based on Ki67 immunohistochemical nuclear staining is used to distinguish proliferating (immunopositive) from nonproliferating (immunonegative) lymphoma cells. Human interpretation of PI varies and is time-consuming, therefore automatic computer-assisted approach may facilitate the performance.Herein we propose a new fully automatic proliferation index estimation (FLAPIE) algorithm, dedicated to detection of immunopositive and immunonegative nuclei, and evaluation of PI in digital microscopy images of DAB&H-stained samples from patients with high-grade DLBCL.FLAPIE performs nuclei detection in original RGB colour space and is independent of image brightness due to its textural-statistical approach. Validation of FLAPIE was performed in 61 non-overlapping whole-slide image fragments and compared to the results of PI estimation by QuPath open-source software, MetPiKi algorithm and manual evaluation by two independent observers. Interobserver agreement was calculated between the nuclei count and PIs by two observers.High concordance was found between both DAB and H-stained nuclei count, and PIs by two observers....
Source: Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering - Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research