ABSTRACT
To detect the characteristics of "pre-ALIP" and to investigate their relevance with the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by computer image procession technology, bone marrow (BM) was collected by aspiration/trephine biopsy from AML patients during the complete remission (CR). BM sections were stained by HGF (haematoxylin-Giemsa-acid fuchsin) and photographed by optical microscope imaging system. 4 kinds of computer image segmentation technologies were compared to select the best one for detecting the localization and quantitation of the precursor cells. Planimetry was combined with morphology to segment bone trabeculae. The number of single and double-cluster precursor cells and their distance from bone trabeculae was detected with Euclidean distance change method in BM images of AML patients, and compared with the normal controls. Moreover, the morphological characteristics of "pre-ALIP" were investigated, and the correlation with the development of AML was analyzed. The results showed that the computer image segmentation method based on morphology could identify the precursor cells and bone trabeculae more exactly in BM image, as compared with the methods of 8-Sobel operater. Canny operator and watershed algorithm. Bone trabeculae could be segmented with combinative methods of morphology and planimetry. The number of single precursor cells (19.27 ± 11.60)/mm(2) and double-cluster precursor cells (1.77 ± 1.76)/mm(2) in CR group were higher than that in normal controls (p < 0.05). The distance of single precursor cells from bone trabeculae in CR group were closer to bone trabeculae than that in controls [(230.12 ± 97.68) µm vs (260.92 ± 99.88 µm)] (p < 0.05), but the distance of double-cluster precursor cells from bone trabeculae in AML patients was (274.56 ± 139.48) µm, which showed no statistically significant different from controls (p > 0.05), while the double-cluster precursor cells showed the tendency of migrating to the intermediate zone of bone trabeculae compared with the single precursor cells in CR group (p < 0.05). It is concluded that the structure of "pre-ALIP" in BM tissue exists before the occurrence of ALIP. The characteristics of "pre-ALIP" are single and double-cluster precursor cells with abnormal localization or quantitation, which showed correlation with the development of AML.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Young Adult , Bone Marrow Cells , Cell Biology , Pathology , Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute , PathologyABSTRACT
Diagnostic ultrasound is a useful and noninvasive method in clinical medicine. Although due to its qualitative, subjective and experience-based nature, ultrasound image interpretation can be influenced by image conditions such as scanning frequency and machine settings. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to extract the liver features using the joint features of fractal dimension and the entropies of texture edge co-occurrence matrix based on ultrasound images, which is not sensitive to changes in emission frequency and gain. Then, Fisher linear classifier and support vector machine are employed to test a group of 99 in-vivo liver fibrosis images from 18 patients, as well as other 273 liver images from 18 normal human volunteers.