Nucleus Cell Segmentation on Pap Smear Image Using Bradley Modification Algorithm

Abstract

Early detection of cervical cancer can help patients obtain the best treatment through various means. In general, computer-aided diagnosis has a high impact on the accuracy, reliability, and convenience of cervical cancer. However, several limitations have been faced through the design process in detecting or classifying the cells, such as variation of image features and low-image resolution. Moreover, shape indifference is one of the limitations in terms of image processing scope. The metrics used to measure the size and shape of the cells have not been developed to distinguish the differences between the shape of the objects. This paper focused on the detection and segmentation of the nucleus cell region in Pap smear images based on Bradley local thresholding. The proposed method evolved several steps, such as color adjustment, k-means, and a Bradley modification algorithm. Based on image quality assessment (IQA), the numerical evaluation results indicate that the proposed approach has segmented a full area of the nucleus cell region significantly and efficiently compared to the original Bradley algorithm. We obtained F-measure (98.62%), sensitivity (99.13%), and accuracy (97.96%). It has also been proven that the proposed method can effectively address the issue of low contrast and black noise. Hence, the proposed method differs from the previous research in terms of color disproportion adjustment and the modification of Bradleys algorithm for Pap smear image convenience.