A technique for multiple-cell chromosome karyotyping.

Abstract

A new approach to a system for chromosome karyotyping is presented. The system assembles the information about chromosomes from several cells at a time, thereby filtering out noise due to variations in the slide preparations. The system makes i possible to use metaphase spreads which are incomplete due to missing chromosomes, touching and overlapping chromosomes and stain particles. The system gives a precise description of the chromosome complement in terms of distribution function parameters, with the uncertainty of the parameters specificed. The system is adaptive with respect to the initial reference parameter set so that both recognition of normal chromosomes, in spite of the variation displayed among individuals, and identification of aberrant chromosomes are possible. The precise chromosome descriptors can be used to detect differences between the tested individual and various references, in order to find chromosomal abnormalities.