Project Objectives
The SlideImaging project demonstrated the feasibility of automation in the acquisition, management and diagnosis of images in Indirect Immunofluorescence (IFI) for the diagnosis of Systemic Autoimmune Diseases. To date, despite the appearance on the market of new systems for the research of autoantibodies, the IFI method is still the gold standard for the research of antinuclear antibodies (ANA). The IFI method is a time consuming method, with high inter and intra-operator variability, and requires "expert" personnel in the reading and interpretation of slides. Our project especially in the first phase has contributed significantly to the awareness of the scientific community on the feasibility of automation even in the IFI reading phase, arriving at the implementation of an automatic classifier of the intensity and fluorescence pattern (CAD) .
Over the years we have extended the panel of recognizable antigen-antibody specificities, expanding the type of analyzable immunofluorescence patterns, we have built and tested algorithms that allow us to automatically identify which regions of the preparation the classifier should analyze to implement automatic diagnosis.
In parallel we built a classifier for the automation of anti-dsDNA in IFI, using Critidia Luciliae as a substrate. The data obtained showed an excellent performance of the automatic system compared to the reading of an "expert" operator.
In the later phases of the project we applied the automatic diagnosis obtained by CAD to a greater number of cases, involving three other Italian reference centers in the sector. The data obtained have further validated the preliminary data.
Date of the start of the project
2006
Principal Investigators
Dr. Amelia Rigon
Other Institutions involved
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Spedali Civili di Brescia
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Ospedale San Carlo Milano
Source of funding
PRIN (ITINERIS 1 E 2)