Image-based histologic grade estimation using stochastic geometry analysis

Background: Low reproducibility of histologic grading of breast carcinoma due to its subjectivity has traditionally diminished the prognostic value of histologic breast cancer grading. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness and reproducibility of grading breast carcinomas with automated computer-based image processing that utilizes stochastic geometry shape analysis. Methods: We used histology images stained with Hematoxylin & Eosin (H&E) from invasive mammary carcinoma, no special type cases as a source domain and study environment. We developed a customized hybrid semi-automated segmentation algorithm to cluster the raw image data and reduce the image domain complexity to a binary representation with the foreground representing regions of high density of malignant cells. A second algorithm was developed to apply stochastic geometry and texture analysis measurements to the segmented images and to produce shape distributions, transforming the original color images into a histogram representation that captures their distinguishing properties between various histological grades. Results: Computational results were compared against known histological grades assigned by the pathologist. The Earth Mover's Distance (EMD) similarity metric and the K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) classification algorithm provided correlations between the high-dimensional set of shape distributions and a priori known histological grades. Conclusion: Computational pattern analysis of histology shows promise as an effective software tool in breast cancer histological grading.