The use of coherent optical processing techniques for the automatic screening of cervical cytologic samples.

Abstract

Coherent optical signal processing techniques applied to the screening of exfoliated cytologic cervical samples were evaluated. The two-dimensional Fourier spectrum of some 80 isolated cells was obtained from high resolution cell photographs and recorded. Quantitative spectrum data were collected on a training set consisting of 15 categorized malignant cells taken from slides diagnosed as malignant and 10 categorized normal cells taken from slides diagnosed as normal. A variety of transform parameters were measured and certain combinations of them were found which separated completely the normal from malignant cells. Certain parameters were shown to be functionally related to the cell diameter, nuclear diameter and nuclear density. Other parameters were found which appear to be related to other cell features such as clumping of nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid. When they were used in combination with the previous parameters, they greatly enhanced the discriminatory capabilities. Computer model studies formed the basis for our experimental design and parameter selection and have validated much of our experimental results. Although the sample size to date is admittedly small, our results have been very encouraging.