Style Consistent Image Generation for Nuclei Instance Segmentation

Abstract

In medical image analysis, one limitation of the application of machine learning is the insufficient amount of data with detailed annotation, due primarily to high cost. Another impediment is the domain gap observed between images from different organs and different collections. The differences are even more challenging for the nuclei instance segmentation, where images have significant nuclei stain distribution variations and complex pleomorphisms (sizes and shapes). In this work, we generate style consistent histopathology images for nuclei instance segmentation. We set up a novel instance segmentation framework that integrates a generator and discriminator into the segmentation pipeline with adversarial training to generalize nuclei instances and texture patterns. A segmentation net detects and segments both real nuclei and synthetic nuclei and provides feedback so that the generator can synthesize images that can boost the segmentation performance. Experimental results on three public nuclei datasets indicate that our proposed method outperforms previous nuclei segmentation methods.