Basic study of anti-nuclear antibody diagnosis using a system for computer-aided immunofluorescence microscopy: Anti-nuclear antibody diagnosis using a system for computer-aided immunofluorescence microscopy

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Medical Technology Vol. 69; no. 3; pp. 403 - 407
• Main Authors: TSUBOI, Isami, NAKAMURA, Kazuto, MACHIDA, Kunimitsu, AKIYAMA, Isao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japanese Association of Medical Technologists 25.07.2020
• Subjects: anti-nuclear antibody; computer-aided immunofluorescence microscopy; indirect immunofluorescence antibody
• ISSN: 0915-8669; 2188-5346
• DOI: 10.14932/jamt.19-107

We installed a computer-assisted microscopy system, EUROPattern Cosmic (EPA), in 2016 to solve the problems of complicated steps and visual judgement of the results of conventional indirect immunofluorescence assay for anti-nuclear antibody detection. However, there was a deviation of the judgement matching rate on the predicted antibody titer and chromosome type between visual judgements; thus, full automation was not achieved. The matching rates of the predicted antibody titer using a photo image obtained by EPA and visual judgement were κ factor = 0.762 in 2016 and κ factor = 0.891 in 2019. The κ factor difference improved significantly (p < 0.01). The matching rates of chromosome-type judgment of the speckled pattern, nucleolar pattern, and centromere pattern in terms of the κ factor difference improved significantly (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, and p < 0.01, respectively). The weak positive predicted judgement of the homogeneous pattern and speckled pattern should be improved to “negative”. The development of an updated version of the Auto Predicted Judgement system with improved judgement accuracy is desired.