Quantifying Her2 Amplification in 3D FISH for Breast Cancer |Diagnostics

The task was to calculate the ratio of Her2 signals to Chr17 signals per cell in 3D stacks of optical slices of breast tumor tissue. This solution automates a large portion of the pathologist’s visual workflow by detecting nuclei, as well as the Her2 signals (red) and Chr17 signals (green) within each nucleus. The ratio of the number of Her2 to Chr17 signals is a quantitative indicator for Her2 amplification. In contrast to an approach that would count signals in 2D maximum intensity projection FISH images, this solution does not suffer from the inaccuracies that may result from mutual overlap and signal masking.

Generated with Definiens Developer XD.
Images courtesy of Pathological Institute, Kantonsspital Lucerne, Switzerland.