Cric searchable image database as a public platform for conventional pap smear cytology data

• Published in: Scientific data Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 151
• Main Authors: Rezende, Mariana T., Silva, Raniere, Bernardo, Fagner de O., Tobias, Alessandra H. G., Oliveira, Paulo H. C., Machado, Tales M., Costa, Caio S., Medeiros, Fatima N. S., Ushizima, Daniela M., Carneiro, Claudia M., Bianchi, Andrea G. C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group 10.06.2021; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Automation; BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; biotechnology; Cancer screening; Cervical cancer; Computer applications; Cytology; KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION; Learning algorithms; Machine learning; MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING; Medical screening; Pap smear; population screening; preventive medicine; Telemedicine
• ISSN: 2052-4463; 2052-4463
• DOI: 10.1038/s41597-021-00933-8

Abstract Amidst the current health crisis and social distancing, telemedicine has become an important part of mainstream of healthcare, and building and deploying computational tools to support screening more efficiently is an increasing medical priority. The early identification of cervical cancer precursor lesions by Pap smear test can identify candidates for subsequent treatment. However, one of the main challenges is the accuracy of the conventional method, often subject to high rates of false negative. While machine learning has been highlighted to reduce the limitations of the test, the absence of high-quality curated datasets has prevented strategies development to improve cervical cancer screening. The Center for Recognition and Inspection of Cells (CRIC) platform enables the creation of CRIC Cervix collection, currently with 400 images (1,376 × 1,020 pixels) curated from conventional Pap smears, with manual classification of 11,534 cells. This collection has the potential to advance current efforts in training and testing machine learning algorithms for the automation of tasks as part of the cytopathological analysis in the routine work of laboratories.