Automated Image-based Detection and Grading of Lymphocytic Infiltration in Breast Cancer Histopathology

OF THE THESIS Automated Image-based Detection and Grading of Lymphocytic Infiltration in Breast Cancer Histopathology By Ajay Basavanhally Thesis Director: Dr. Anant Madabhushi The identification of phenotypic changes in breast cancer (BC) histopathology is of significant clinical importance in predicting disease outcome and prescribing appropriate therapy. One such example is the presence of lymphocytic infiltration (LI) in histopathology, which has been correlated with a variety of prognoses and theragnoses (i.e. response to treatment) in BC patients. In this thesis work a computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) system is detailed for quantitatively measuring the extent of LI from hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) stained histopathology. The CADx system is subsequently applied to BC patients expressing the HER2 gene (HER2+ BC), where LI extent has been found to correlate with nodal metastasis and distant recurrence. Although LI may be graded qualitatively by BC pathologists, there is currently no quantitative and reproducible method for measuring LI extent in HER2+ BC histopathology. Hence, a CADx system that performs this task will potentially help clinicians predict disease outcome and allow them to make better therapy recommendations for HER2+ BC patients. The CADx methodology comprises three