The role of digital image analysis in reproductive biology and medicine

The use of high-speed computers, direct digitization of video images, and new methods to probe soft tissues has revolutionized our view of biology. Many of these new techniques are now commonly used in several areas of medicine, but their use in reproductive biology has just begun. At present, digital image processing is limited to a few applications in reproductive medicine, including digital colposcopy and the laboratory analysis of spermatozoon motility and cellular morphology. Early implementations of digital image processing experienced problems typical of any newly introduced high technology. Today, however, with careful attention to operational details, digital image processing instruments can be productively used in the clinical diagnosis of cervical cancer, in the laboratory diagnosis of male infertility, and in more basic cell biological research. Such instruments also promise to play a significant role in laboratory quality assurance and control and in technologist training and education. In the near future, digital image processing instruments will also be applied to other areas of reproductive laboratory medicine, such as oocyte evaluation and embryo monitoring in the in vitro fertilization laboratory.