Computerized Cell Image Analysis: Past, Present, and Future

The visual interpretation of images is at the core of most medical diagnostic procedures and the final decision for many diseases is based on microscopic examination of cells and tissues. Through screening of cell samples the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer have been reduced significantly. The visual interpretation is, however, tedious and in many cases error-prone. Therefore many attempts have been made at using the computer to supplement or replace the human visual inspection by computer analysis and to automate some of the more tedious visual screening tasks. In this paper these developments are traced from their very beginning through the present situation and into the future. The paper concludes with a discussion of the possibilities of applying the gained experiences to create the toolbox needed to turn functional genomics from prospect to reality.