Detection of oesophagus tissue changes using image processing

Abstract

The computer-based cell and tissue analysis has always been an active area of healthcare informatics, but the popularity has greatly increased since the evolution of hardware. The process began about a decade ago, and since then it has become a key research area in medical informatics. Over the years various approaches were attempted by the developers, these are mostly based on the properties of the images, for example colors, shapes, contours and textures, and conclusions are drawn from these parameters. This topic gained popularity because medical imaging devices became more easily accessible, and they are able to produce far better quality images. The article describes a prototype system that may accelerate the detection of the signs of oesophagus adenocarcinoma, thus helping the task of pathologists and specialist in the field of diagnosis. The presence of Barrett Metaplasia greatly increases the risk of developing adenocarcinoma, therefore the developed software looks for the signs of this disease. In order to accomplish this goal, the developed image processing system evaluates tissue images produced by virtual microscopes.