An automated approach to the segmentation of HEp-2 cells for the indirect immunofluorescence ANA test

Comput Med Imaging Graph. 2015 Mar:40:62-9. doi: 10.1016/j.compmedimag.2014.12.005. Epub 2015 Jan 6.

Abstract

The automatization of the analysis of Indirect Immunofluorescence (IIF) images is of paramount importance for the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases. This paper proposes a solution to one of the most challenging steps of this process, the segmentation of HEp-2 cells, through an adaptive marker-controlled watershed approach. Our algorithm automatically conforms the marker selection pipeline to the peculiar characteristics of the input image, hence it is able to cope with different fluorescent intensities and staining patterns without any a priori knowledge. Furthermore, it shows a reduced sensitivity to over-segmentation errors and uneven illumination, that are typical issues of IIF imaging.

Keywords: ANA testing; Cell pattern analysis; HEp-2 cell segmentation; Indirect immunofluorescence; Microscope image processing.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Antibodies, Antinuclear / immunology
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Tracking / methods*
  • Connective Tissue Diseases / diagnosis
  • Connective Tissue Diseases / immunology*
  • Epithelial Cells / immunology*
  • Epithelial Cells / pathology*
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique / methods*
  • Humans
  • Image Enhancement / methods
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence / methods
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated / methods*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity

Substances

  • Antibodies, Antinuclear