OPTOELECTRONIC REGION OF INTEREST DETECTION - AN APPLICATION IN AUTOMATED CYTOLOGY

Diagnostic cytology, which is used to screen for cervical cancer, invo lves characterizing cellular features such as shape, size, and texture . Automated screening of cervical smear slides is desirable but comput ationally challenging since each slide requires processing 2 x 10(9) p ixels at a resolution of 0.8 mu m per pixel. We demonstrate that the t hroughput of optical processors can be exploited in automated cervical smear-screening systems. In particular, we identify a morphological s hape detector to perform the initial region of interest (ROT) detectio n and to demonstrate experimentally its optoelectronic implementation. The ROI detector is tested on 200 images, and its performance is char acterized as a receiver operating characteristic (ROC). The area under the ROC curve is as high as 96.4% of the total area. The simulation a nd the experimental results are found comparable, and the discrepancy between the two results is determined to be a function of the number o f bits represented in the filter plane device. (C) 1998 Optical Societ y of America.