CellRegNet: Point Annotation-Based Cell Detection in Histopathological Images via Density Map Regression

Abstract

Recent advances in deep learning have shown significant potential for accurate cell detection via density map regression using point annotations. However, existing deep learning models often struggle with multi-scale feature extraction and integration in complex histopathological images. Moreover, in multi-class cell detection scenarios, current density map regression methods typically predict each cell type independently, failing to consider the spatial distribution priors of different cell types. To address these challenges, we propose CellRegNet, a novel deep learning model for cell detection using point annotations. CellRegNet integrates a hybrid CNN/Transformer architecture with innovative feature refinement and selection mechanisms, addressing the need for effective multi-scale feature extraction and integration. Additionally, we introduce a contrastive regularization loss that models the mutual exclusiveness prior in multi-class cell detection cases. Extensive experiments on three histopathological image datasets demonstrate that CellRegNet outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods for cell detection using point annotations, with F1-scores of 86.38% on BCData (breast cancer), 85.56% on EndoNuke (endometrial tissue) and 93.90% on MBM (bone marrow cells), respectively. These results highlight CellRegNet’s potential to enhance the accuracy and reliability of cell detection in digital pathology.