Method and system for identifying acid-fast structures in slide-mounted biological specimens

摘要

A system is provided for screening subjects who are suspected of having a mycobacterial infection by obtaining a specimen that is then subjected to an acid-fast staining procedure. A digitized photomicrographic image of a magnified field of the specimen is color filtered to remove pixels not in the red to magenta range. The filtered pixels are grouped and analyzed to determine if they form any structures having an elongated shape associated with mycobacteria. If any such structures are detected, an alarm is provided and an isolated view of the structure is displayed. While the isolated view is displayed, the user can choose to see the original or the color filtered image.