LIPO-CAD: SISTEMA DE AVALIAÇÃO DO NÍVEL DE COLESTEROL TOTAL POR MEIO DE PROCESSAMENTO DE IMAGENS DIGITAIS

Abstract

Nowadays the high level of cholesterol is one of the illnesses that reach millions of people causing about 12 million deaths in many developed countries, being the main cause of deaths in developing countries. Various researches in the world had defined the reference values for the total cholesterol levels in the blood. The reference values for the cholesterol exam are: desirable smaller than 200; smaller than 200 and larger or equal to 239 moderate risk and high risk larger ou equal to 240. Currently the dosage is carried through by spectrophotometer that it is based on the analysis of the color concentration, such concentration is directly proportional to the dosage of cholesterol (mg/dL) found in the sample. With computers, several techniques are being improved to aid clinical diagnosis. The aim of our work was to develop a technique using Digital Image Processing to dose the cholesterol level in a sample. The ELISA microtiter plate was used to capture a digital image with cholesterol exams samples. From this image, techniques of image processing were applied to find out the cholesterol concentration. The results were compared by statistical analysis with the results found for the current technique (spectrophotometer). The correlation coefficient analysis was applied and the results found was -0,94 (IC 95% = -0,9668 the -0,9036, P smaller than 0,0001), demonstrating that the process of capture and analysis of the cholesterol images has a strong correlation with the current method. To validate the experiment a ROC curve of the test was constructed. The area under the ROC curve was of 0,868 (IC 95% = 0,798 the 0,920, P smaller than 0,0001) evidencing to be a method with good discriminatory power. These results demonstrate that the analysis and image capture process obtained the desired results. The method proposed is an alternative way to assist in the dosage of the total cholesterol and can be used to develop equipments at low cost.