Segmentation of immunohistochemical staining of beta-catenin expression of oral cancer using EM algorithm

Oral Cancer, also called Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma [OSCC], has been one of the serious cancers that affect the South Asian countries. A range of diagnostic strategies are available including biopsy of the affected part. The Wnt/beta-catenin pathway plays important roles in morphogenesis, normal physiological functions, and tumor formation. This study examined the accumulation of beta-catenin in the nuclei and cytoplasm of oral cancer. The accuracy of histopathological results is hampered by considerable inter and intra-reader variability even by expert pathologists. In order to get both qualitative and quantitative results, we developed a system for diagnosis of oral cancer using Expectatione Maximization [EM algorithm]. The microscopic images of immunohistochemical staining of beta-catenin expression were segmented using Iterative Method of [EM] algorithm to extract the cellular and extracellular components of an image. The segmentation process of the system uses unitone conversion to obtain a single channel image using Principal Component Analysis [PCA] with the highest contrast. Finally, the unitone image is normalized to [0-1] range. Based on the segmentation process we conclude that beta-catenin expression using EM algorithm is an efficient technique to help the pathologist to evaluate the histological changes on microscopic images of oral cancer

Profile of benign breast diseases in western Saudi Arabia

To describe the histopathological patterns of benign breast diseases [BBD] among Saudi patients. This is a retrospective review of BBD reports of Saudi patients of both genders and all age groups seen between January 2006 and December 2013 at King Fahad Hospital, Madinah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Out of the total 1005 breast biopsies, 603 cases [60%] were BBD. The female to male ratio was 30.7:1. The overall mean age for BBD was 27.5 years, with an age range of 14-80 years. The most common lesion was fibroadenoma [FA] accounting for 44.3% of cases [mean age: 23.5 years], followed by 23.4% fibrocystic change [FCC] [mean age: 37.1 years]. Both lesions had a peak occurrence in the third decade. Inflammatory lesions constituted 13.9% of cases. Most common were granulomatous mastitis [3.5%], chronic mastitis [3.3%], and acute mastitis with abscess [3.1%]. Other major lesions encountered were fibroadenomatoid hyperplasia [3.1%], intraductal papilloma [2.8%], and benign phylloides tumor [2.6%]. All benign diagnoses in male patients were gynecomastia and most patients [68.4%] were under 40 years. In this study, BBD constituted 60% of breast lumps, and were mostly FA and FCC. The BBD peaked at the 20-29 year age range.