Cytological screening method
OwnerTriantafillos P. Tafas, Petros Tsipourasinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus is provided, whereby the level of an intracellular analyte in a cell containing sample may be determined. The apparatus is comprised of a microscope with an X-Y stage, a video camera, a computer adapted to receive video images from the video camera, and a software program for controlling the apparatus in accordance with the method. The method provided performs digital image processing so as to cause undesired features of a video image obtained by the video camera to be diminished, while desired features are emphasized. A measurement of optical densities of desired features may then be used to determine the level of intracellular analyte.
Claims8
A method for determining the level of a target substance in a plurality of cells from a cell-containing sample, the method comprising the steps of:
- treating the plurality of cells to make a presence of the target substance optically detectable;
- placing the plurality of cells in an optical path of an image detector;
- obtaining an image of an optical field including at least one cell as an array of points having optical density values;
- filtering the obtained image to moderate optical density values of those points in the image having extreme optical density values;
- selecting image objects within the filtered image conforming to a defined parameter set;
- and
- calculating the average optical density of those points which are within the selected image objects taking into account a background optical density.
A method for determining the level of alkaline phosphatase in a plurality of cells of a cell-containing sample, the method comprising the steps of:
- treating the plurality of cells to make a presence of alkaline phosphatase optically detectable;
- placing the treated plurality of cells in an optical path of an image detector to permit detection in an optical field by the image detector of at least one neutrophil;
- obtaining an image of the optical field as an array of points having optical density values;
- filtering the obtained image to moderate optical density values of those points in the image having extreme optical density values;
- obtaining the optical density at points throughout the filtered image;
- defining a parameter set within which a neutrophil fits;
- selecting neutrophils in accordance with the defined parameter set;
- and
- calculating the optical densities of the selected neutrophils.
A method for detecting a Down syndrome pregnancy by determining the level of alkaline phosphatase in a plurality of cells of a cell-containing sample, the method comprising the steps of:
- treating the plurality of cells to make a presence of alkaline phosphatase optically detectable;
- placing treated plurality of cells in an optical path of an image detector to permit detection in an optical field by the image detector of at least one neutrophil;
- obtaining an image of the optical field as an array of points having optical density values;
- filtering the obtained image to moderate optical density values of those points in the image having extreme optical density values;
- obtaining the optical density at points throughout the filtered image;
- defining a parameter set within which a neutrophil fits;
- selecting neutrophils in accordance with the defined parameter set;
- calculating an average optical density of the selected neutrophils;
- and
- comparing the average optical density of the selected neutrophils to a control optical density, thereby detecting a likelihood of a Down syndrome pregnancy when the average optical density exceeds the control optical density.
A level of detecting preleukemic states by determining the level of alkaline phosphatase in a plurality of cells of a cell-containing sample, the method comprising the steps of:
- treating the plurality of cells to make a presence of alkaline phosphatase optically detectable;
- placing the solid support in an optical path of an image detector to permit detection in an optical field by the image detector of at least one neutrophil;
- obtaining an image of the optical field as an array of points having optical density values;
- filtering the obtained image to moderate optical density values of those points in the image having extreme optical density values;
- obtaining the optical density at points throughout the filtered image;
- defining a parameter set within which a neutrophil fits;
- selecting neutrophils in accordance with the defined parameter set;
- calculating an average optical density of the selected neutrophils;
- and
- comparing the average optical density of the selected neutrophils to a control optical density, thereby detecting a likelihood of a preleukemic state when the average optical density is less than the control optical density.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.