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Biomedical subjects

Dimitris Glotsos

Publications and source records attributed to Dimitris Glotsos.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Robust estimation of bioaffinity assay fluorescence signals.

In this paper, the challenging problem of robust mean-signal estimation of a single-step microparticle bioaffinity assay is investigated. For this purpose, a density estimation-based robust algorithm (DER) was developed. The DER algorithm was comparatively evaluated with four other parameter estimation methods (mean value, median filtering, least square estimation, Welsch robust m-estimator). Two important questions were raised and investigated: 1) Which of the five methods can robustly estimate the mean bioaffinity signal? and 2) How many microparticles need to be measured in order to obtain an accurate estimate of the mean signal value? To answer the questions, bootstrap and coefficient of variation (CV) analyses were performed. In the CV analysis, the DER algorithm gave the best results: The CV ranged from 0.8% to 4.9% when the number of microparticles used for the mean signal estimation varied from 800 to 30. In the bootstrap analysis of the standard error, the DER algorithm had the smallest variance. As a conclusion, it can be underlined that: 1) of all methods tested, the DER algorithm gave the most consistent and reproducible results according to the bootstrap and CV analysis; 2) using the DER algorithm accurate estimates could be calculated based on 80-100 particles, corresponding to a typical assay measurement time of 1 min; and 3) the investigated bioaffinity signals contained a large number of outliers (observations that severely deviate from the majority of data) and therefore robust techniques were necessary for the mean signal estimation tasks.

Algorithms↗

Computer-based malignancy grading of astrocytomas employing a support vector machine classifier, the WHO grading system and the regular hematoxylin-eosin diagnostic staining procedure.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate and develop an automated technique for astrocytoma malignancy grading compatible with the clinical routine. STUDY DESIGN: One hundred forty biopsies of astrocytomas were collected from 2 hospitals. The degree of tumor malignancy was defined as low or high according to the World Health Organization grading system. From each biopsy, images were digitized and segmented to isolate nuclei from background tissue. Morphologic and textural nuclear features were quantified to encode tumor malignancy. Each case was represented by a 40-dimensional feature vector. An exhaustive search procedure in feature space was utilized to determine the best feature combination that resulted in the smallest classification error. Low and high grade tumors were discriminated using support vector machines (SVMs). To evaluate the system performance, all available data were split randomly into training and test sets. RESULTS: The best vector combination consisted of 3 textural and 2 morphologic features. Low and high grade cases were discriminated with an accuracy of 90.7% and 88.9%, respectively, using an SVM classifier with polynomial kernel of degree 2. CONCLUSION: The proposed methodology was based on standards that are common in daily clinical practice and might be used in parallel with conventional grading as a second-opinion tool to reduce subjectivity in the classification of astrocytomas.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Automated segmentation of routinely hematoxylin-eosin-stained microscopic images by combining support vector machine clustering and active contour models.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a method for the automated segmentation of images of routinely hematoxylin-eosin (H-E)-stained microscopic sections to guarantee correct results in computer-assisted microscopy. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical material was composed 50 H-E-stained biopsies of astrocytomas and 50 H-E-stained biopsies of urinary bladder cancer. The basic idea was to use a support vector machine clustering (SVMC) algorithm to provide gross segmentation of regions holding nuclei and subsequently to refine nuclear boundary detection with active contours. The initialization coordinates of the active contour model were defined using a SVMC pixel-based classification algorithm that discriminated nuclear regions from the surrounding tissue. Starting from the boundaries of these regions, the snake fired and propagated until converging to nuclear boundaries. RESULTS: The method was validated for 2 different types of H-E-stained images. Results were evaluated by 2 histopathologists. On average, 94% of nuclei were correctly delineated. CONCLUSION: The proposed algorithm could be of value in computer-based systems for automated interpretation of microscopic images.

Algorithms↗

Automated diagnosis of brain tumours astrocytomas using probabilistic neural network clustering and support vector machines.

A computer-aided diagnosis system was developed for assisting brain astrocytomas malignancy grading. Microscopy images from 140 astrocytic biopsies were digitized and cell nuclei were automatically segmented using a Probabilistic Neural Network pixel-based clustering algorithm. A decision tree classification scheme was constructed to discriminate low, intermediate and high-grade tumours by analyzing nuclear features extracted from segmented nuclei with a Support Vector Machine classifier. Nuclei were segmented with an average accuracy of 86.5%. Low, intermediate, and high-grade tumours were identified with 95%, 88.3%, and 91% accuracies respectively. The proposed algorithm could be used as a second opinion tool for the histopathologists.

Algorithms↗