Stain Color Adaptive Normalization (SCAN) algorithm: Separation and standardization of histological stains in digital pathology.

Color deconvolution Digital histopathology H&E staining Stain normalization Whole-slide imaging

Journal

Computer methods and programs in biomedicine
ISSN: 1872-7565
Titre abrégé: Comput Methods Programs Biomed
Pays: Ireland
ID NLM: 8506513

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Sep 2020
Historique:
received: 10 03 2020
revised: 08 04 2020
accepted: 08 04 2020
pubmed: 1 5 2020
medline: 15 5 2021
entrez: 1 5 2020
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

The diagnosis of histopathological images is based on the visual analysis of tissue slices under a light microscope. However, the histological tissue appearance may assume different color intensities depending on the staining process, operator ability and scanner specifications. This stain variability affects the diagnosis of the pathologist and decreases the accuracy of computer-aided diagnosis systems. In this context, the stain normalization process has proved to be a powerful tool to cope with this issue, allowing to standardize the stain color appearance of a source image respect to a reference image. In this paper, novel fully automated stain separation and normalization approaches for hematoxylin and eosin stained histological slides are presented. The proposed algorithm, named SCAN (Stain Color Adaptive Normalization), is based on segmentation and clustering strategies for cellular structures detection. The SCAN algorithm is able to improve the contrast between histological tissue and background and preserve local structures without changing the color of the lumen and the background. Both stain separation and normalization techniques were qualitatively and quantitively validated on a multi-tissue and multiscale dataset, with highly satisfactory results, outperforming the state-of-the-art approaches. SCAN was also tested on whole-slide images with high performances and low computational times. The potential contribution of the proposed standardization approach is twofold: the improvement of visual diagnosis in digital histopathology and the development of powerful pre-processing strategies to automated classification techniques for cancer detection.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE
The diagnosis of histopathological images is based on the visual analysis of tissue slices under a light microscope. However, the histological tissue appearance may assume different color intensities depending on the staining process, operator ability and scanner specifications. This stain variability affects the diagnosis of the pathologist and decreases the accuracy of computer-aided diagnosis systems. In this context, the stain normalization process has proved to be a powerful tool to cope with this issue, allowing to standardize the stain color appearance of a source image respect to a reference image.
METHODS METHODS
In this paper, novel fully automated stain separation and normalization approaches for hematoxylin and eosin stained histological slides are presented. The proposed algorithm, named SCAN (Stain Color Adaptive Normalization), is based on segmentation and clustering strategies for cellular structures detection. The SCAN algorithm is able to improve the contrast between histological tissue and background and preserve local structures without changing the color of the lumen and the background.
RESULTS RESULTS
Both stain separation and normalization techniques were qualitatively and quantitively validated on a multi-tissue and multiscale dataset, with highly satisfactory results, outperforming the state-of-the-art approaches. SCAN was also tested on whole-slide images with high performances and low computational times.
CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS
The potential contribution of the proposed standardization approach is twofold: the improvement of visual diagnosis in digital histopathology and the development of powerful pre-processing strategies to automated classification techniques for cancer detection.

Identifiants

pubmed: 32353672
pii: S0169-2607(20)30572-1
doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2020.105506
pii:
doi:

Substances chimiques

Coloring Agents 0

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

105506

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Competing Interest We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted.

Auteurs

Massimo Salvi (M)

Politecnico di Torino, PoliToBIOMed Lab, Biolab, Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Turin, Italy. Electronic address: massimo.salvi@polito.it.

Nicola Michielli (N)

Politecnico di Torino, PoliToBIOMed Lab, Biolab, Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Turin, Italy.

Filippo Molinari (F)

Politecnico di Torino, PoliToBIOMed Lab, Biolab, Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Turin, Italy.

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