Abstract
Specific markers characterizing neoplastic malignancy have up to the present time not been detected. The morphological features appear to be the most appreciable cell properties when assessing neoplastic malignancy in its early preclinical stage. In order to detect the morphological parameters for employment in automatic screening cancer cytology in the gynecologicalfield, we studied cytological feature extraction and feature evaluation, as well as the correlation between optical density in hematoxylin staining and DNA content in the nuclei, by using the “ambiguity differential function” and Kolmogrov-Smirnov Two Sample Test.
After fundamental research on segmentation of cells and nuclei, and following the above mentioned examination, the automated cytology screening system (CYBEST) was developed-he prototype in 1972, Model 2 in 1974, and quite recently Model 3 (April 1978) . The parameters are nuclear size, nuclear optical density, nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio, and nuclear shape. Screening time required per specimen is within 6 min in Model 2 and 3 min in Model 3.
An outline of these systems is presented in this paper. Results of the field test of Model 2 were: false negative rate 0-1.8%, and false positive 12.1-32%. Field testing utilizing the Model 3 is now being carried out.
