IP Library Granted Patent US 8,515,683
Granted Patent B2
US 8,515,683 · App. 13/079,719 · Granted Aug 20, 2013

Method and system for automated detection of immunohistochemical (IHC) patterns

Inventors: Abhijeet S. Gholap (San Jose, CA); Gauri A. Gholap (San Jose, CA); Chiruvolu V. K. Rao (Pune, IN); Sanford H. Barsky (Columbus, OH); Madhura Vipra (Pune, IN); Gurunath Kamble (Pune, IN); Suhas Manmantrao Patil (Pune, IN); Prithviraj Jadhav (Pune, IN)
Assignee: Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,515,683
App. No.
13/079,719
Granted
Aug 20, 2013
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method and system for automated detection of immunohistochemical (IHC) patterns. The method and system is able to automatically differentiate an epithelial cell part from a non-epithelial cell part of a digital image of a tissue sample to which an IHC compound has been applied. The method and system help to automatically correct errors made in a manual interpretation of a pathological or other manual analysis of tissue samples for diseases such as a human cancer.

Claims (20)

1. A computer software product that includes a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processor, the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon a set of instructions for performing automated detection of immunohistochemical (IHC) patterns, the instructions comprising:

analyzing luminance values of plural pixels from a digital image of a human tissue sample to which an immunohistochemical (IHC) compound has been applied to segment the digital image into an IHC pattern area and background area;

identifying one or more probable epithelial cell areas in the segmented IHC pattern area;

detecting and filtering out stromal cell areas and lymph cell areas within the identified one or more probable epithelial cell areas to create one or more filtered probable epithelial cell area;

detecting and filtering out artifact areas from the one or more filtered probable epithelial cell areas; and

creating a medical conclusion using the one or more filtered probable epithelial cell areas.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing one or more processors to execute the steps of the method.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the IHC compound includes a Haematoxylin and Eosin (HIE) stain.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the medical conclusion includes a medical diagnosis or medical prognosis for a human cancer.

5. A system for performing automated detection of immunohistochemical (IHC) patterns, comprising:

a processor;

a computer readable memory coupled to the processor;

a network coupled to the processor;

software stored in the computer readable memory and executable by the processor, the software comprising:

means for performing steps of:

analyzing luminance values of plural pixels from a digital image of a human tissue sample to which an immunohistochemical (IHC) compound has been applied to segment the digital image into an IHC pattern area and background area;

identifying one or more probable epithelial cell areas in the segmented IHC pattern area;

detecting and filtering out stromal cell areas and lymph cell areas within the identified one or more probable epithelial cell areas to create one or more filtered probable epithelial cell area;

detecting and filtering out artifact areas from the one or more filtered probable epithelial cell areas; and

creating a medical conclusion using the one or more filtered probable epithelial cell areas.

Assignments (1)
MERGER Recorded May 18, 2011
From: BIOIMAGENE, INC.
To: VENTANA MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC.
Reel/Frame 026300/0257 →
Continuity (8)
Division 11091614 · Mar 27, 2005
Continuation In Part 10938314 · Sep 10, 2004
Continuation In Part 10966071 · Oct 15, 2004
Provisional Application 60556844 · Mar 27, 2004
Provisional Application 60515582 · Oct 30, 2003
Provisional Application 60530174 · Dec 15, 2003
Provisional Application 60501412 · Sep 10, 2003
Related Publication 20110311123A1 · Dec 22, 2011