Method and system for detection of biological materials using fractal dimensions

摘要

A method and system for classification of biological materials is described. The system (100) includes a microscope (10), a digitizing camera (20) and a computer (30). The method includes the steps of capturing the digital image (40) of the biological material or cell (12) using the digitizing camera preferably through the microscope (10). The captured image is digitized and displayed on the computer screen (32). The digitized image is then enhanced using a grey level value thresholding process, a cluster recognition process and a boundary determination process. The resulting enhanced image (40C) is then used to determine the perimeter surface (40D) of the cell. The enhanced image is subjected to a box counting routine in which the number of boxes occupied by the perimeter surface is calculated for various different box sizes. The box counting calculations are plotted using a power-law analysis. Using a linear regression fit to the data points, a straight line is fit to the data points and used to determine the fractal dimension D of the cell. A histogram of the resulting fractal dimensions D for various cells in a sample can be produced. The image enhancing process and the fractal dimension analysis is preformed by software in the computer. The method and system is useful in analyzing large amounts of cells in order to differentiate between neoplastic and non-neoplastic human cells of a given type. Other organisms can be analyzed by the method.