Definiens Ag

Nathalie Harder

Maria Athelogou

A system predicts the recurrence of cancer. A first slice of a prostate tissue sample is stained so that luminal epithelial cells and basal epithelial cells are stained different colors. A first digital image is taken of the first slice. The second slice of the sample is stained so that M1 type macrophages and M2 type macrophages are differentially stained. A second digital image is taken of the second slice. The system analyzes the first digital image and defines regions of non-intact glands. Intact gland regions are then determined, and regions of stroma are identified. The system defines influence zones between non-intact regions and stroma regions. Using information from the second image, macrophages in the tissue corresponding to the influence zones are identified and counted. Based at least in part on this count, the system determines a score. The score is indicative of whether the patient will experience PSA recurrence.

System for predicting the recurrence of cancer in a cancer patient

An improved histopathological score is obtained by identifying objects in images of glandular tissue from cancer patients. The objects are identified based on staining by a biomarker. The score predicts that a cancer patient will have a recurrence of cancer of the glandular tissue based on a geometric characteristic of individual identified objects but not on any pattern formed by the identified objects. First objects are generated from the image of glandular tissue which has been stained with a single biomarker that stains epithelial cells. Second objects are then generated using the first objects. A geometric feature of each of the second objects is measured. A shape index is then calculated for each of the second objects based on the geometric feature, and an average shape index is calculated. Based on the average shape index, a score is determined that indicates a level of cancer malignancy of the glandular tissue.

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Munich, Germany

Nathalie Harder