title: A Fuzzy-C-Means-Clustering Approach: Quantifying Chromatin Pattern of Non-Neoplastic Cervical Squamous Cells.
abstract: Despite the effectiveness of Pap-smear test in reducing the mortality rate due to cervical cancer, the criteria of the reporting standard of the Pap-smear test are mostly qualitative in nature. This study addresses the issue on how to define the criteria in a more quantitative and definite term. A negative Pap-smear test result, i.e. negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy (NILM), is qualitatively defined to have evenly distributed, finely granular chromatin in the nuclei of cervical squamous cells. To quantify this chromatin pattern, this study employed Fuzzy C-Means clustering as the segmentation technique, enabling different degrees of chromatin segmentation to be performed on sample images of non-neoplastic squamous cells. From the simulation results, a model representing the chromatin distribution of non-neoplastic cervical squamous cell is constructed with the following quantitative characteristics: at the best representative sensitivity level 4 based on statistical analysis and human experts' feedbacks, a nucleus of non-neoplastic squamous cell has an average of 67 chromatins with a total area of 10.827 μm2; the average distance between the nearest chromatin pair is 0.508 μm and the average eccentricity of the chromatin is 0.47.
authors.affiliation: Imaging and Intelligent System Research Team (ISRT), School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Jing Rui
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Imaging and Intelligent System Research Team (ISRT), School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Nor Ashidi
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Mat Isa
authors.affiliation: Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Bertam, Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ewe Seng
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Ch'ng
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000378:metabolism*; D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D015233:Models, Statistical; D065006:Papanicolaou Test / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000379:methods; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin