System and method for reviewing and analyzing cytological specimens

Abstract

Systems and methods are directed to computer-assisted navigation of images of a cytological specimen, including the acts of analyzing a first image of the cytological specimen to identify a plurality of objects of interest within the cytological specimen, displaying a plurality of images each comprising one of the plurality of identified objects of interest within the cytological specimen and including a second image of at least one object of interest, and displaying, responsive to receiving a user selection of the second image of the at least one object of interest, a field of view of the at least one object of interest and neighboring objects of interest, wherein the second image of the at least one object of interest has a first magnification, and wherein the field of view of the at least one object of interest is displayed at a second magnification different than the first magnification.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-assisted method of navigating images of a cytological specimen, comprising the acts of:
 analyzing a first image of the cytological specimen to identify a plurality of objects of interest within the cytological specimen;   displaying a plurality of images each comprising one of the plurality of identified objects of interest within the cytological specimen and including a second image of at least one object of interest; and   displaying, responsive to receiving a user selection of the second image of the at least one object of interest, a field of view of the at least one object of interest and neighboring objects of interest,
 wherein the second image of the at least one object of interest has a first magnification, and 
 wherein the field of view of the at least one object of interest is displayed at a second magnification different than the first magnification. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second image of the at least one object of interest is displayed in a scroll bar. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising acts of:
 receiving, from a user, a classification of the at least one object of interest; and   storing the classification of the at least one object of interest with the second image of the at least one object of interest.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the field of view is accessed from a database of cytological specimen images. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of images is sorted by a probability of having one or more predetermined characteristics. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more predetermined characteristics include one or more of morphological characteristics, a stain type, a cell size, a nucleus-to-cytoplasm ratio, an optical density, a regularity of contour, color-based criteria, and a nucleic density. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the stain type is at least one of chromogenic and fluorescent. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more predetermined characteristics are selected by a user. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving a selection of a magnification value for the second magnification. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of objects includes at least one of a plurality of cells and a plurality of cell clusters. 
     
     
         11 . A system for inspecting images of a cytological specimen, the system comprising:
 at least one processor operatively coupled to a memory;   a user interface display; and   a user interface component, executed by the at least one processor, configured to:
 analyze a first image of the cytological specimen to identify a plurality of objects of interest within the cytological specimen; 
 display a plurality of images each comprising one of the plurality of identified objects of interest within the cytological specimen and including a second image of at least one object of interest; and 
 display, responsive to receiving a user selection of the second image of the at least one object of interest, a field of view of the at least one object of interest and neighboring objects of interest, 
 wherein the second image of the at least one object of interest has a first magnification, and 
 wherein the field of view of the at least one object of interest has a second magnification different than the first magnification. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface component is further configured to display the second image of at least one object of interest in a scroll bar. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface component is further configured to:
 receive a classification of the at least one object of interest; and   store the classification of the at least one object of interest with the second image of the at least one object of interest.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the field of view can be accessed from a database of cytological specimen images. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface component is configured to sort the plurality of images by a probability of having one or more predetermined characteristics. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the predetermined characteristics include one or more of morphological characteristics, a stain type, a cell size, a nucleus-to-cytoplasm ratio, an optical density, a regularity of contour, color-based criteria, and a nucleic density. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the stain type is at least one of chromogenic and fluorescent. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the user interface component is configured to receive the one or more predetermined characteristics from a user. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface component is configured to receive a magnification value of the second magnification from a user. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of objects includes at least one of a plurality of cells and a plurality of cell clusters.