Removing Artefacts from Microscopic Images of Cytological Smears. A Shape-Based Approach

Abstract

Most of reports on computer supported cytological investigations focus on searching for objective, quantitative descriptors enabling an automated system to distinguish between “normal” and “pathological” objects, usually cells or their organelles. A great number of sophisticated tools have been developed and reported. However, few reports may be found concerning the problem of detecting artefacts in cytological smears and reducing their influence on the overall system performance. On the other hand, the problem is crucial for the whole system setup and if not properly solved may spoil any attempts to implement the system in practice. The paper addresses this neglected problem trying to point out some general rules and procedures that should be followed to reject artefacts from automatic cytological analysis.