Automated evaluation of HER-2/neu immunohistochemical expression in breast cancer using digital microscopy

Author

Gavrielides, Marios A. ; Masmoudi, Hela ; Petrick, Nicholas ; Myers, Kyle J. ; Hewit, Stephen M.

Author_Institution

Nat. Inst. of Biomed. Imaging & Bioeng., Silver Spring, MD

fYear

2008

fDate

14-17 May 2008

Firstpage

808

Lastpage

811

Abstract

HER-2/neu (HER2) has been shown to be a valuable biomarker for breast cancer. However, inter-observer variability has been reported in the evaluation of HER2 with immunohistochemistry. It has been suggested that automated computer-based evaluation can provide a consistent and objective measure of HER2 expression. In this manuscript, we present an automated method for the quantitative assessment of HER2 using digital microscopy. The method employs imaging algorithms on whole slide images of tissue specimens for the extraction of two features describing HER2 membrane staining, namely membrane staining completeness and membrane staining intensity. A classifier was trained to merge the extracted features into an overall slide assessment score. Preliminary results showed good agreement with the provided truth. The developed automated method has the potential to be used as a computer aid for the immunohistochemical evaluation of HER2 expression with the objective of increasing observer reproducibility.

Keywords

biochemistry; biological organs; biomedical optical imaging; biomembranes; cancer; feature extraction; image classification; mammography; medical image processing; molecular biophysics; optical microscopy; statistical analysis; tumours; HER-2/neu immunohistochemical expression; HER2 membrane staining; automated computer-based evaluation; biomarker; breast cancer; digital microscopy; feature extraction; image classifier; inter-observer variability; light microscope; observer reproducibility; overall slide assessment score; quantitative assessment; tissue specimens; whole slide images; Biomarkers; Biomedical imaging; Biomembranes; Breast cancer; Cells (biology); Clustering algorithms; Feature extraction; Immune system; Medical treatment; Microscopy; HER2/neu; biomarker imaging; computer aided analysis; immunohistochemistry; microscopy imaging;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Biomedical Imaging: From Nano to Macro, 2008. ISBI 2008. 5th IEEE International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Paris

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2002-5

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2003-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISBI.2008.4541119

Filename

4541119