Research Progress and Application of Digital Pathology Technology in Bone Marrow Morphology / 中国医疗器械杂志

Advances in digital pathology technology have enabled pathologists and laboratory physicians to perform quick, easy, accurate and reproducible analysis of digital images of tissues and cells with the aid of electronic screens and software tools, rather than relying solely on traditional optical microscopy observations. The conventional clinical cytology testing practice is to be replaced by a digital workflow, which includes both digital imaging and image analysis. This article provides an overview of the basic principles of digital pathology techniques, the advances of development of device in cytology digital pathology, and their clinical applications in bone marrow morphology, and existing problems and prospects of digital pathology application in hematology.

Clinimetric analysis of recently applied quantitative tools in evaluation of vitiligo treatment

Background: Vitiligo affects about 1% of the world's population, however, there is currently no universally used standardized measure to assess its response to treatment. Objective: To find the most effective technique for the quantitative assessment of therapeutic results in vitiligo patients. Materials and Methods: The study was performed in three stages: (1) Conducting an adapted Delphi survey to check current dermatologists' attitudes regarding the topic of study. (2) Conducting a pilot study that involves testing the selected digital image analysis software in the laboratory to validate future tasks. (3) The chief clinimetric study that implicates selecting actual vitiligo lesion models and evaluating them. Results: Regarding the surface area measuring techniques, the most accurate results were gained through the digital image analysis for surface area, followed by point-counting technique. The digital image analysis for color measurement was accurate and reliable in getting a percentage representation of color improvement within the vitiligo lesions, in response to therapy. Limitations: Many dermatologists lack understanding of basic concepts about imaging techniques. The study does not include a traditional assessment method such as vitiligo area scoring index. Conclusion: Our designated digital image analysis technique was able to efficiently assess the changes that occur both on surface area and the color of vitiligo lesions in response to therapy.

Preliminary study on digital image analysis of endoscopic ultrasonography in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm / 中华消化杂志

Objective To investigate the value of digital image analysis (DIA) of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm (PNEN).Methods The relation between various parameters of EUS-imaging and benign and malignant lesions in 47 patients clinically diagnosed PNEN were retrospectively analyzed.Photoshop CS5 software was performed for digital image processing,and lesions related parameters were collected,including area,perimeter,length,circularity,gray,gray ratio,and gray standard deviation.The statistical method of t test was performed for comparison between two groups.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was analyzed in length,circularity,average gray scale ratio and gray standard deviation.Results Among the 47 patients,35 cases and 12 cases were in benign group and malignant group,respectively.The mean gray scale ratio and the circularity of benign group were significantly higher than those of malignant group (0.80±0,05 vs 0.74±0.07,0.63±0.17 vs 0.40±0.09),and the differences were statistically significant (t=2.659 and 5.787,both P＜0.05).The gray standard deviation of benign group were lower than that of malignant group (9.90 ± 1.24 vs 12.55± 3.27),and the difference was statistically significant (t=-2.733,P=0.018).The area under the curve (AUC) of circularity was 0.724 (95％ confidence interval(CI):0.546 to 0.901),the cut-off value was 0.767,the sensitivity and specificity were 71.43 ％ and 66.67％,respectively.The AUC of average gray ratio was 0.888 (95％CI:0.785 to 0.991),the cut-off value was 0.412,the sensitivity and specificity were 94.29％ and 75.00％,respectively.The AUC of gray standard deviation was 0.811 (95％CI:0.647 to 0.974),the cut-off value was 11.02,the sensitivity and specificity were 66.67％ and 85.71％,respectively.When combined with the three parameters of circularity,average gray scale ratio and gray standard deviation,the sensitivity and specificity were 97.14％ and 83.33％,and the accuracy was 93.61％.Conclusions EUS with DIA technology can improve the detection of EUS images to PNEN,and which may be complementary to EUS guided fine needle aspiration.It also privided a noninvasive,objective,convenient,and effective option for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant PNEN.

Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) enumeration through epifluorescence microscopy: technical aspects

A method for counting Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) through epifluorescence microscopy was analyzed in detail. Image processing and statistic considerations are included. The particle size of viruses was compared in different experimental conditions such as the staining of the virus with SYBR-Green I or with antibodies for specific fluorescence labeling of viral proteins. The type of surface used as mounting support was assayed as well. The results indicated that the most suitable method involves the mounting of the viral-containing suspension on a membrane filter followed by the staining with a monoclonal antibody specific for a viral protein combined with a FITC (fluorescein isothiocyanate)-conjugated secondary antibody.

Evaluation of follicular lymphoid depletion in the Bursa of Fabricius: an alternative methodology using digital image analysis and artificial neural networks / Avaliação da depleção linfóide folicular da Bursa de Fabricius: uma metodologia alternativa utilizando análise digital de imagem e redes neurais artificiais

Fifty Bursa of Fabricius (BF) were examined by conventional optical microscopy and digital images were acquired and processed using Matlab® 6.5 software. The Artificial Neuronal Network (ANN) was generated using Neuroshell® Classifier software and the optical and digital data were compared. The ANN was able to make a comparable classification of digital and optical scores. The use of ANN was able to classify correctly the majority of the follicles, reaching sensibility and specificity of 89 percent and 96 percent, respectively. When the follicles were scored and grouped in a binary fashion the sensibility increased to 90 percent and obtained the maximum value for the specificity of 92 percent. These results demonstrate that the use of digital image analysis and ANN is a useful tool for the pathological classification of the BF lymphoid depletion. In addition it provides objective results that allow measuring the dimension of the error in the diagnosis and classification therefore making comparison between databases feasible.

Cinquenta Bursa de Fabrícius (BF) foram examinadas através de microscopia óptica convencional e imagens digitais foram obtidas e processadas através do software Matlab® 6.5. Redes Neurais Artificiais (ANN) foram geradas com a utilização do software Neuroshell® Classifier, e os dados das análises óptica e digital foram comparados. A ANN classificou corretamente a maioria dos folículos, atingindo sensibilidade e especificidade de 89 por cento e 96 por cento, respectivamente. Quando os folículos foram agrupados de forma binária houve um aumento da sensibilidade para 90 por cento e obteve-se um valor máximo para a especificidade de 92 por cento. Estes resultados demonstram que o uso da análise digital de imagem associada à ANNé uma ferramenta bastante útil para a classificação patológica da depleção linfóide da BF. Além disso, fornece resultados objetivos que permitem medir a dimensão do erro classificatório, tornando possível a comparação entre distintos bancos de dados.

Expression and significance of apoptotie suppressor gene survivin in craniopharyngioma / 中国综合临床

Objective To study the expression and significance of survivin,an apoptotic suppressor gene,in craniopharyngioma. Methods Fifty specimens were collected from patients with craniopharyngioma admitted in West China Hospital of Sichuan University from 2000 to 2005. By using immunohistocbemistry (S-P) method, the expression of survivin in craniopharyngioma was detected. The results were analyzed quantitatively by using digital image analysis. Results Survivin positive expression was observed in craniopharyngioma but not in normal brain tis-sue. There was more expression of survivin in adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas than in squamous papillary types( P = 0.036 ) , in male than in female (P = 0.002 ), in children ≤ 16 years than in adults > 16 years, and in re-current group than in non-recurrent group( P = 0.011 ). There was no significant difference among different properties of craniopharyngioma ( P = 0. 057 ), and different courses of disease ( P = 0. 083 ). Conclusions Survivin may be considered as a significant index for assessment of tumor recurrence.

Detecting Malignant Urothelial Cells by Morphometric Analysis of ThinPrep(R) Liquid-based Urine Cytology Specimens / 대한세포병리학회지

Urothelial carcinoma accounts for 90% of all the cases of bladder cancer. Although many cases can be easily managed by local excision, urothelial carcinoma rather frequently recurs, tends to progress to muscle invasion, and requires regular follow-ups. Urine cytology is a main approach for the follow-up of bladder tumors. It is noninvasive, but it has low sensitivity of around 50% with using the conventional cytospin preparation. Liquid-based cytology (LBC) has been developed as a replacement for the conventional technique. We compared the cytomorphometric parameters of ThinPrep(R) and cytospin preparation urine cytology to see whether there are definite differences between the two methods and which technique allows malignant cells to be more effectively discriminated from benign cells. The nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio value, as measured by digital image analysis, was efficient for differentiating malignant and benign urothelial cells, and this was irrespective of the preparation method and the tumor grade. Neither the ThinPrep(R) nor the conventional preparation cytology was definitely superior for distinguishing malignant cells from benign cells by cytomorphometric analysis of the adequately preserved cells. However, the ThinPrep(R) preparation showed significant advantages when considering the better preservation and cellularity with a clear background.