Slit-scan flow cytometry: separability properties of cell features

A model is presented to compare the separability of cell populations described by features measured in low resolution slit-scanning flow systems with their separability when the features are extracted from high resolution digitized cell images. The results show that although the accuracy of the feature measurements deteriorates for increasing slit width, this is not necessarily true for the discriminatory power of the features. Depending on their original position in the high resolution feature space, the cell populations may be located even farther apart in the space of low resolution slit-scan features for reasonably small widths of the slit. The results presented with high resolution images of cells from gynecological specimens and simulated slit-scan measurements can be explained by the model. For the features nuclear DNA content and diameter the abnormal populations are shifted closer to the normal populations in the slit-scan simulations as compared to the high resolution measurements. The cell classifier errors rates are unacceptably high.