Segmentation of cell clusters in Pap smear images using intensity variation between superpixels

The automated interpretation of Pap smear images is a challenging issue with several aspects. The accurate segmentation of the structuring elements of each cell is a crucial procedure which entails in the correct identification of pathological situations. However, the extended cell overlapping in Pap smear slides complicates the automated analysis of these cytological images. In this work, we propose an efficient algorithm for the separation of the cytoplasm area of overlapping cells. The proposed method is based on the fact that in isolated cells the pixels of the cytoplasm exhibit similar features and the cytoplasm area is homogeneous. Thus, the observation of intensity changes in extended subareas of the cytoplasm indicates the existence of overlapping cells. In the first step of the proposed method, the image is tesselated into perceptually meaningful individual regions using a superpixel algorithm. In a second step, these areas are merged into regions exhibiting the same characteristics, resulting in the identification of each cytoplasm area and the corresponding nuclei. The area of overlap is then detected using an algorithm that specifies faint changes in the intensity of the cytoplasm of each cell. The method has been evaluated on cytological images of conventional Pap smears, and the results are very promising.