Papsynth: simulated bright-field images of cervical smears

In this paper, we present a simulator for bright-field microscope images of “Pap-smears”, which is the most common technique used today for cervical cancer screening. Lacking a ground truth for real images, these realistic synthetic images may be used to tune and validate image analysis and processing algorithms. We demonstrate this for two tasks: uncorrelated noise removal and nucleus segmentation. The simulator is a part of a larger project, aiming at automatic, cost efficient screening for cervical cancer in developing countries.

[1]  Anders Brun,et al.  Closing Curves with Riemannian Dilation: Application to Segmentation in Automated Cervical Cancer Screening , 2009, ISVC.

[2]  Roberto Manduchi,et al.  Bilateral filtering for gray and color images , 1998, Sixth International Conference on Computer Vision (IEEE Cat. No.98CH36271).

[3]  E. Bengtsson.  Fifty years of attempts to automate screening for cervical cancer , 1999 .

[4]  Michal Kozubek,et al.  Generation of digital phantoms of cell nuclei and simulation of image formation in 3D image cytometry , 2009, Cytometry. Part A : the journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology.

[5]  J. Selinummi,et al.  Simulating fluorescent microscope images of cell populations , 2005, 2005 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology 27th Annual Conference.

[6]  Ken Perlin,et al.  An image synthesizer , 1988 .

[7]  Ewert Bengtsson,et al.  A Feature Set for Cytometry on Digitized Microscopic Images , 2003, Analytical cellular pathology : the journal of the European Society for Analytical Cellular Pathology.

[8]  Franz Aurenhammer,et al.  Voronoi diagrams—a survey of a fundamental geometric data structure , 1991, CSUR.

[9]  Ting Zhao,et al.  Automated learning of generative models for subcellular location: Building blocks for systems biology , 2007, Cytometry. Part A : the journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology.

[10]  J. Timmer,et al.  On generating power law noise. , 1995 .

[11]  Pekka Ruusuvuori,et al.  Computational Framework for Simulating Fluorescence Microscope Images With Cell Populations , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[12]  O. A. N. Husain,et al.  Automated Cervical Cancer Screening , 1994 .