Tissue Image Processing for Parenchymal Cell Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for diagnosing biological tissues using immunohistochemical staining struggle to accurately separate stromal cells from parenchymal cells due to similar staining intensities, making it difficult to distinguish between the two cell types through image processing.
Innovation Solution
An information processing apparatus and system that smooths tissue sample images to reduce luminance values of parenchymal cells below those of stromal cells, followed by binary image binarization to generate a mask for removing stromal cells, enabling accurate separation and counting of parenchymal cells.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If immunohistochemical staining is performed to visualize cell structures, then cell components become visible for diagnosis, but nuclei of both stromal cells and parenchymal cells are stained blue making it difficult to separate the two cell types
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary image processing (smoothing) to the tissue sample image before binary classification. This preprocessing step modifies the luminance values in advance to enhance the contrast between stromal cells and parenchymal cells, ensuring that subsequent classification can accurately separate the two cell types even when their nuclei are similarly stained blue
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the luminance parameter of the image by applying smoothing processing. This transformation modifies the luminance values so that cell components of parenchymal cells have lower luminance values than those of stromal cells, creating a distinguishable parameter difference that enables accurate cell type separation despite similar staining
2Ease of operation
If traditional color-based classification is used to separate stromal cells from parenchymal cells, then the process is simple, but it fails when cell membrane staining is weak and both cell types appear similar
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional color-based classification approach with an image processing-based classification system. Instead of relying on color differences that may not be present, the system uses smoothing processing followed by binary classification based on luminance values, providing a more robust method that works regardless of staining intensity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the classification parameter from color-based to luminance-based by applying smoothing processing. This parameter change allows the system to distinguish between stromal cells and parenchymal cells based on luminance value differences rather than color differences, maintaining simplicity while improving accuracy
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides an information processing apparatus capable of accurately separating parenchymal cells and stromal cells from each other regardless of the staining intensity of the cells. The information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus 100 including: an image processing unit 110 for smoothing a tissue sample image 150 obtained by staining and then imaging a biological tissue containing parenchymal cells 151 and stromal cells 152 so that luminance values of cell components of each of the parenchymal cells 151 become less than those of each of the stromal cells 152; and a mask generation unit 120 for generating, through generating a binary image by binarizing the tissue sample image 115 smoothed by the image processing unit 110, a mask 125 for removing a region of the stromal cells from the tissue sample image 115.