Cell count estimation using fractal dimension

Abstract

We propose a technique for cell count estimation based on Minkowski fractal dimension. Cell images are edge detected and dilated for different structuring element radius. The fractal dimension is obtained from the log-log plot of the area covered by edge pixels for each radius size. A function that gives the relationship of the cell count and fractal dimension is obtained using sample images. This method is applicable for overlapping cells which may be difficult to estimate by blob-counting procedure.