Automated classification of breast cancer morphology in histopathological images

Excerpt

The morphology of a breast cancer tumour, as examined through an optical microscope, is currently assessed visually by the pathologist in parallel with making the cancer diagnosis. The grade of differentiation, which describes how closely the morphology of the tumour resembles the corresponding healthy tissue of an organ, is undisputedly related to the outcome of breast cancer [1]. However, tumour grade is largely regarded as an unreliable prognostic factor due to its poor reproducibility [2]. The visually determined morphology is afflicted with a poor inter- and intra observer agreement, which prevents grade from being fully utilized as an important outcome predictor. The same pathologist may assign different grade to the same tumour when assessment is repeated, and different pathologists disagree to a substantial level when assessing the same tumour [3]. …