TRUE-COLOR IMAGE WORKSTATION FOR PATHOLOGY RESEARCH

UNTIL NOW, THE BENEFITS OF COMPUTERIZATION HAVE NOT SPREAD TO IMAGE-BASED FIELDS SUCH AS PATHOLOGY. ALTHOUGH A FEW EXPENSIVE IMAGE-PROCESSING COMPUTER SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN USED FOR PATHOLOGY RESEARCH, AFFORDABLE, GENERAL-PURPOSE SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN UNAVAILABLE. IMAGE PROCESSING HAS BEEN LIMITED TO BLACK-AND-WHITE IMAGES. RECENT PROGRESS IN MICROCOMPUTERIMAGE-PROCESSING HARDWARE WILL NOW ALLOW THE PRODUCTION OF AFFORDABLE SYSTEMS THAT PROVIDE TRUE-COLOR IMAGE PROCESSING AND SOPHISTICATED IMAGE STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS. THE AIM OF PHASE I OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DESIGN A TRUE-COLORIMAGE-PROCESSING WORKSTATION FOR PATHOLOGY RESEARCH. THE WORKSTATION WILL BE BASED ON A POWERFUL MICROCOMPUTER, SPECIALIZED OFF-THE-SHELF HARDWARE TO OBTAIN TRUE-COLOR MICROSCOPIC IMAGES, AND A REMOVABLE WRITE-ONCE LASER DISK DRIVE TO PROVIDE HIGH-CAPACITY STORAGE FOR IMAGES. IMAGE-PROCESSING SOFTWARE WILL BE DESIGNED TO ALLOW ROUTINE IMAGE MEASUREMENT, MANIPULATION, IDENTIFICATION, AND ANALYSIS. RESEARCH WILL BE DONE ON ALGORITHMS FOR TRUE-COLOR IMAGE PROCESSING, AND A STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM FOR IMAGES WILL BE PLANNED. FINALLY, ALL SYSTEM COMPONENTS WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO A USER-FRIENDLY RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT. PHASE II OF THIS PROJECT WILL INCLUDE ASSEMBLY OF THE WORKSTATION, DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGE-PROCESSING SOFTWARE, TESTING, AND FIELD TRIALS.