title: An automated blur detection method for histological whole slide imaging.
abstract: Whole slide scanners are novel devices that enable high-resolution imaging of an entire histological slide. Furthermore, the imaging is achieved in only a few minutes, which enables image rendering of large-scale studies involving multiple immunohistochemistry biomarkers. Although whole slide imaging has improved considerably, locally poor focusing causes blurred regions of the image. These artifacts may strongly affect the quality of subsequent analyses, making a slide review process mandatory. This tedious and time-consuming task requires the scanner operator to carefully assess the virtual slide and to manually select new focus points. We propose a statistical learning method that provides early image quality feedback and automatically identifies regions of the image that require additional focus points.
authors.affiliation: Laboratories of Image, Signal processing and Acoustics (LISA), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium ; DIAPath - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Gosselies, Belgium.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Moles Lopez
authors.affiliation: Laboratories of Image, Signal processing and Acoustics (LISA), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium ; DIAPath - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Gosselies, Belgium.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: D'Andrea
authors.affiliation: DIAPath - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Gosselies, Belgium.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barbot
authors.affiliation: DIAPath - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Gosselies, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anne-Sophie
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Bridoux
authors.affiliation: DIAPath - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Gosselies, Belgium ; Department of Pathology - Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rorive
authors.affiliation: DIAPath - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Gosselies, Belgium ; Department of Pathology - Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.affiliation: Laboratories of Image, Signal processing and Acoustics (LISA), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Debeir
authors.affiliation: Laboratories of Image, Signal processing and Acoustics (LISA), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium ; DIAPath - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Gosselies, Belgium.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Decaestecker
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D015415:Biomarkers; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000592:standards*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers