METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VISUALIZATION OF BONE MARROW CELL POPULATIONS

1 . A system for scanning a bone marrow aspirate (BMA) sample, the system comprising:

a scanning apparatus for scanning the BMA sample;

a processor coupled to the scanning apparatus and a memory and configured to execute instructions which cause the system to:

obtain, using the scanning apparatus, scan data of the BMA sample;

detect cells in the BMA sample from the scan data;

classify the detected cells into a plurality of cell types; and

store, in the memory, cell data of the classified cells; and

a display configured to present the cell data.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein processor is configured to detect particles in the BMA sample and detect cells in the BMA sample separate from the detected particles.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the particles comprise one or more of fat, or clusters of hematopoietic cells.

4 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising

an image capture device comprising an effective numerical aperture (NA) of at least 0.8;

wherein the detected cells comprise at least 100 cells; and

wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for scanning an area of at least 0.5 square cm.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein classifying the detected cells further comprises identifying a cell lineage linking cells of different cell types and presenting the cell data further comprises presenting the cell lineage.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the cell lineage comprises a lineage of the cells from one or more of a myeloid lineage, a lymphoid lineage, or an erythroid lineage.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein storing the cell data further comprises selecting, from the detected cells, at least relevant cells to store in the cell data.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the relevant cells are selected based on a representative distribution of cell types from the detected cells.

9 . The system of claim 7 , wherein a number of the relevant cells is between 100-500 cells, 500-1000 cells, 1000-2000 cells, or more than 2000 cells.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a scan time for obtaining the scan data is faster than 20 minutes per square cm, 15 minutes per square cm, 10 minutes per square cm, 5 minutes per square cm, or 2 minutes per square cm.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the scan data comprises data from at least 95% of an entire area of the BMA sample.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for:

analyzing a preview image corresponding to the BMA sample to locate particles, wherein the preview image has a lower resolution than the scan data; and

determining, based on the analysis, a recommended scan area for the BMA sample.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the recommended scan area is further determined based on a user input.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the user input includes adjusting the recommended scan area to include or exclude a user-defined area.

15 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the instructions for obtaining the scan data further comprise instructions for scanning, using the scanning apparatus, the recommended scan area.

16 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for receiving a user input to modify the cell data.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the user input includes at least one of marking a cell, adding a cell, deleting a cell, reclassifying a cell, or adding a notification to a cell.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the notification indicates at least one of toxic or abnormal.

19 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the scan data includes high-resolution image data of the BMA sample.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the high-resolution image data includes image data of the BMA sample scanned with an effective numerical aperture (NA) of at least 0.8.

21 .- 68 . (canceled)