Automatic hemolysis identification on aligned dual-lighting images of cultured blood agar plates.
Journal:
Computer methods and programs in biomedicine
PMID:
29428064
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The recent introduction of Full Laboratory Automation systems in clinical microbiology opens to the availability of streams of high definition images representing bacteria culturing plates. This creates new opportunities to support diagnostic decisions through image analysis and interpretation solutions, with an expected high impact on the efficiency of the laboratory workflow and related quality implications. Starting from images acquired under different illumination settings (top-light and back-light), the objective of this work is to design and evaluate a method for the detection and classification of diagnostically relevant hemolysis effects associated with specific bacteria growing on blood agar plates. The presence of hemolysis is an important factor to assess the virulence of pathogens, and is a fundamental sign of the presence of certain types of bacteria.