Color standardization in whole slide imaging using a color calibration slide
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Published on: June 16, 2020
Pinky A Bautista1, Noriaki Hashimoto1, Yukako Yagi1
1Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Background:
Color consistency in histology images is still an issue in digital pathology. Different imaging systems reproduced the colors of a histological slide differently.
Materials And Methods:
Color correction was implemented using the color information of the nine color patches of a color calibration slide. The inherent spectral colors of these patches along with their scanned colors were used to derive a color correction matrix whose coefficients were used to convert the pixels' colors to their target colors.
Results:
There was a significant reduction in the CIELAB color difference, between images of the same H & E histological slide produced by two different whole slide scanners by 3.42 units, P < 0.001 at 95% confidence level.
Conclusion:
Color variations in histological images brought about by whole slide scanning can be effectively normalized with the use of the color calibration slide.
