Gaussian Blurring Technique for Detecting and Classifying Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cancer Cells from Microscopic Biopsy Images.

Visual inspection of peripheral blood samples is a critical step in the leukemia diagnostic process. Automated solutions based on artificial vision approaches can accelerate this procedure, while also improving accuracy and uniformity of response in telemedicine applications. In this study, we propose a novel GBHSV-Leuk method to segment and classify Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) cancer cells. GBHSV-Leuk is a two staged process. The first stage involves pre-processing, which uses the Gaussian Blurring (GB) technique to blur the noise and reflections in the image. The second stage involves segmentation using the Hue Saturation Value (HSV) technique and morphological operations to differentiate between the foreground and background colors, which improve the accuracy of prediction. The proposed method attains 96.30% accuracy when applied on the private dataset, and 95.41% accuracy when applied on the ALL-IDB1 public dataset. This work would facilitate early detection of ALL cancer.

Clinicopathological spectrum of solitary Plasmacytoma: a single center experience from coastal India.

BACKGROUND: Plasma cell disorders are a rare group of hematological malignancies that accounts for 10% of all hematological neoplasms. Solitary plasmacytomas are rarer entities accounting for less than 5% of all the plasma cell dyscrasias. They encompass three subtypes - Solitary Plasmacytoma of Bone (SPB) and Solitary Extramedullary Plasmacytoma (SEP) and multiple solitary plasmacytomas (MSP). In this study, we discuss the clinical, histopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics of solitary plasmacytomas. METHODS: A 13 year retrospective analysis of solitary plasmacytomas was performed from a single tertiary care center. Bone marrow evaluation was done concurrently at the time of diagnosis to rule out the presence of multiple myeloma. RESULTS: A total of 29 cases fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for SP during the study period. SPB accounted for 55.2%, SEP for 44.4% and MSP for 3.4% of the cases. The most common sites involved were the paranasal sinuses and vertebrae. Other infrequent sites included lymph node, tonsil and lungs. The mean age of presentation of SPB was a decade later than SEP. A male preponderance was observed in both subtypes. CONCLUSION: Solitary plasmacytoma is a rare entity, the diagnosis of which requires a systematic approach. There is limited data available in the literature on the clinico-pathological characteristics of SP from India.

A Study of Pap Smears in HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Women from a Tertiary Care Center in South India.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work was to study the spectrum of epithelial abnormalities on Pap smears of HIV-positive women categorized as per the Bethesda System of Reporting Cervical Cytology, to correlate them with CD4 lymphocyte counts, and to compare them with the spectrum of abnormalities seen in a HIV-negative control group. Study Design and Methodology: The present study was a 6-year retrospective study conducted in the Department of Pathology at Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, which included 150 Pap smears from HIV-positive and HIV-negative women, respectively. The Pap-stained slides of the cases were retrieved and studied. The data collected were tabulated and analyzed. A statistical study was performed using SPSS software. The χ2 test was used to analyze the data and a p value < 0.05 was considered to be significant. RESULTS: Pap smear abnormalities were twice as high in HIV-infected women (12%) as compared with HIV-negative women (6%; p = 0.006, RR = 2). Negative for intraepithelial lesion/malignancy was the most common finding (88%), which was further subdivided into inflammatory, atrophic smear, non-specific, candidiasis, and bacterial vaginitis groups. The percentage of epithelial abnormalities was 12%, including: atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance, 5.55%; atypical squamous cells, cannot exclude HSIL, 16.66%; low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, 5.55%; high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), 61.11%, and squamous cell carcinoma, 11.11%. The highest incidence of intraepithelial lesions in HIV-positive females was in the age group of 34-49 years. CD4 cell counts fell in the range of 200-500 cells/mm3 in most of the HIV-positive patients (68.75%), but was not found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Routine Pap smear examination is advocated in women with HIV as the prevalence of epithelial cell abnormalities was found to be 12%, which was twice as high as compared to the HIV-negative control group. Although there was no correlation of epithelial cell abnormalities with CD4 counts, a higher rate of the cases with epithelial abnormalities were observed to have CD4 cell counts of 200-500 cells/mm3.

Histomorphologic Spectrum in Hyaline Vascular Variant of Castleman Disease.

INTRODUCTION: Castleman Disease (CD) is a rare lymphopro-liferative disorder with heterogenous clinical and pathological features. It is a rare disease with mention in the rare disease data of the orphanet. It can present as unicentric or multicentric disease. Hyaline vascular variant and plasma cell variant are the two pathological subtypes. Hyaline vascular variant accounts for nearly 80% to 90% of unicentric cases. Hyaline vascular subtype variant has follicular and stroma rich subtype. AIM: To study the histomorphologic spectrum of hyaline vascular variant of CD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective cross-sectional, observational study was undertaken from the archival data between January 2009 and April 2015. Only ten cases of hyaline vascular CD were identified after studying the histomorphological characteristics. Both follicular and interfollicular changes were studied in detail. RESULTS: The age of presentation ranged from 17 years to 59 years. Seven out of 10 cases were female. Site of presentation included cervical, inguinal, retroperitoneal, intra-abdominal and axillary. Six cases showed predominant follicular change. Two cases were sclerotic subtype. Two cases showed both follicular and interfollicular changes in equal proportion. Distribution of follicles throughout the lymphnode was seen in eight cases. Uniform sized follicles seen in seven out of ten cases. Small germinal centre with lymphocyte depletion was one of the uniform features seen in all 10 cases. Numerous high endothelial vessels were seen in nine cases. Twinning of germinal centre was seen in two cases. All ten cases showed concentric rings of small lymphocytes. Lollipop pattern was relatively rare feature seen in only two cases. CONCLUSION: Hyaline vascular variant of CD has considerable morphologic variation with few consistent features seen in most of the cases.

The role of haematological parameters in predicting malaria with special emphasis on neutrophil lymphocyte count ratio and monocyte lymphocyte ratio: A single Institutional experience.

INTRODUCTION: Malaria is a mosquito borne disease which is a major public health problem and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Various haematological parameters have been studied to help predict malaria, such as alteration in the leucocyte count, platelet counts and erythrocyte counts. The neutrophil lymphocyte count ratio (NLCR) was found to have a good predictive value in systemic inflammation, particularly in critical care setting. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to study the various haematological parameters and acertain the predictive value of NLCR and MLR in the detection of malaria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective cross sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital between the period of August to December, 2014. A total of 200 smear positive malaria patients and a control group of 100 patients who were smear negative for malaria were included. Hemoglobin, Total leucocyte count, Differential leucocyte count, platelet counts and absolute counts were obtained. The NLCR and MLR were obtained from the above data. The data was analysed by statistical tools. RESULTS: A total of 200 smear positive malaria cases were analysed of which, 180 cases were caused by the Plasmodium vivax parasite and 2 cases by Plasmodium Falciparum. Thrombocytopenia and leucopenia were found to have significant association with malaria. In the present study, the NLCR and MLR was not found to have significant association with malaria. DISCUSSION: Although NLCR has been proven to be a useful marker for inflammation in many acute conditions5, it is albeit not of much significance in the prediction of malaria. Similarly we have found no significance of MLR in prediction of malaria.