Evaluation of repeatability for the automatic estimation of endothelial cell density in donor corneas.

Abstract

The repeatability of an automatic system for estimation of endothelial cell density (ECD) from microscopy images in donor corneas was assessed. A computer program for the automatic ECD estimation from frequency analysis was previously presented. An evaluation of its repeatability was performed on a data set containing 200 corneas by assessing the accuracy and precision of automatic versus manual values. For each cornea, 2-21 images (1536 total) at 100x for automatic ECD and one image at 200x for manual ECD were available. Accuracy of automatic ECDs was -45 (SD 99) cells/mm(2) (-2% (4%)). Precision of repeated automatic ECDs on the same cornea was 62 (30) cells/mm(2) (3% (1%)). The algorithm was also capable of identifying all non-processable images. The proposed automatic technique proved to be reliable for its routine use in a typical eye bank setting like the one considered here.