Distance-based tissue state determination

An image analysis system for determining the biomedical state of a tissue sample, the system comprising a processor and computer-interpretable instructions configured to cause the processor executing the instructions to perform a method comprising:

• receiving a digital image of the tissue sample;
• analyzing the received image for identifying the number and location of A-type cells and B-type cells observed in an area of the received image, wherein the A-type and the B-type are different cell types;
• analyzing the location of the A-type and B-type cells in the area for obtaining an observed relative distribution, the observed relative distribution being indicative of observed distances between the A-type cells and the B-type cells in the area;
• obtaining a reference relative distribution, the reference relative distribution being indicative of expected distances between the reference A-type cells and reference B-type cells;
• computing a proximity score as a difference of the reference relative distribution and the observed relative distribution;
• computing a combined score, the combined score comprising the proximity score and comprising the density of the A-type cells and/or the density of the B-type cells;
• using the combined score for determining the biomedical state of the tissue sample and/or outputting the combined score to a user for enabling the user to determine the biomedical state of the tissue sample.

A data processing system for determining the biomedical state of a tissue sample, the system comprising a spatial DBMS and an application program,

• the spatial DBMS comprising:
• observed spatial data, the observed spatial data comprising the location of A-type cells and B-type cells observed in an area of a digital image of the tissue sample, wherein the A-type and the B-type are different cell types, and
• reference spatial data, the reference spatial data comprising the location of reference A-type and reference B-type cells;
• and
• the application program being configured for:
• analyzing the observed spatial data for obtaining an observed relative distribution, the observed relative distribution being indicative of observed distances between the A-type cells and the B-type cells in the area, wherein the application program is configured to use spatial operations provided by the spatial DBMS for computing the observed distances,
• analyzing the reference spatial data for obtaining a reference relative distribution, the reference relative distribution being indicative of expected distances between the identified number of reference A-type cells and reference B-type cells in the area, wherein the application program is configured to use spatial operations provided by the spatial DBMS for computing the expected distances,
• computing a proximity score as a difference of the reference relative distribution and the observed relative distribution,
• computing a combined score, the combined score comprising the proximity score and comprising the density of the A-type cells and/or the density of the B-type cells, and
• using the combined score for determining the biomedical state of the tissue sample and/or outputting the combined score to a user for enabling the user to determine the biomedical state of the tissue sample.