IMAGE-ANALYSIS SOFTWARE FOR THE DETECTION OF PRENEOPLASTIC AND EARLY NEOPLASTIC LESIONS

Preneoplastic lesions are usually small, and often appear as foci of a typical cells that blend into the surrounding normal tissue without pr oducing a detectable tumor mass. Since these lesions seldom provide ad equate tissue for biochemical studies, their detection often depends u pon subtle distinctions in cytologic features. Image analysis permits pathologists to obtain quantitative measurements on cytologic and hist ologic preparations, so that visual impressions can be augmented by qu antitative morphometry. Preneoplastic lesions have well-described morp hometric features relating to nuclear area, texture, or shape. It is n ow feasible for every pathology department to capture images of pathol ogic material with equipment costing less than the price of a microsco pe. Captured image files can be analyzed using commercial software or software developed in several U.S. government agencies and made freely available to the public. Image analysis has been shown to improve the detection of preneoplastic cells. Recent improvements in the resoluti on of captured images, in the algorithms that measure preneoplastic de scriptors, and in the ease and speed of transmission of images between laboratories, should increase our ability to detect and treat preneop lastic lesions.