Novel application of image analysis to the detection of spongiform change.
Spongiform change is the characteristic neuropathologic abnormality within the brain in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the most common human spongiform encephalopathy, but traditional methods of evaluating this abnormality are subjective and laborious. In order to overcome these difficulties, a quantitative method of assessment of spongiform change was devised and implemented using image analysis techniques. Successful validation of this system was performed by subjective and objective comparison with a neuropathologist's assessment. In a test-set of 50 microscopic images a strong positive rank correlation (Rs = 0.91) was established between the image analyzer and the neuropathologist. This system should facilitate large-scale analysis of different patterns of spongiform change in cases of human spongiform encephalopathy.
Sutherland
K
K
CJD Surveillance Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, U.K.
Ironside
J W
JW
D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000473:pathology*