An interactive learning framework for scalable classification of pathology images

Recent advances in microscopy imaging and genomics have created an explosion of patient data in the pathology domain. Whole-slide images (WSIs) of tissues can now capture disease processes as they unfold in high resolution, recording the visual cues that have been the basis of pathologic diagnosis for over a century. Each WSI contains billions of pixels and up to a million or more microanatomic objects whose appearances hold important prognostic information. Computational image analysis enables the mining of massive WSI datasets to extract quantitative morphologic features describing the visual qualities of patient tissues. When combined with genomic and clinical variables, this quantitative information provides scientists and clinicians with insights into disease biology and patient outcomes. To facilitate interaction with this rich resource, we have developed a web-based machine-learning framework that enables users to rapidly build classifiers using an intuitive active learning process that minimizes data labeling effort. In this paper we describe the architecture and design of this system, and demonstrate its effectiveness through quantification of glioma brain tumors.