Super-resolved virtual staining of label-free tissue using diffusion models
Abstract
Virtual staining of tissue offers a powerful tool for transforming label-free microscopy images of unstained tissue into equivalents of histochemically stained samples. This study presents a diffusion model-based super-resolution virtual staining approach utilizing a Brownian bridge process to enhance both the spatial resolution and fidelity of label-free virtual tissue staining, addressing the limitations of traditional deep learning-based methods. Our approach integrates novel sampling techniques into a diffusion model-based image inference process to significantly reduce the variance in the generated virtually stained images, resulting in more stable and accurate outputs. Blindly applied to lower-resolution auto-fluorescence images of label-free human lung tissue samples, the diffusion-based super-resolution virtual staining model consistently outperformed conventional approaches in resolution, structural similarity and perceptual accuracy, successfully achieving a super-resolution factor of 4-5x, increasing the output space-bandwidth product by 16-25-fold compared to the input label-free microscopy images. Diffusion-based super-resolved virtual tissue staining not only improves resolution and image quality but also enhances the reliability of virtual staining without traditional chemical staining, offering significant potential for clinical diagnostics.
- Publication:
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arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- October 2024
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2410.20073
- Bibcode:
- 2024arXiv241020073Z
- Keywords:
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- Electrical Engineering and Systems Science - Image and Video Processing;
- Computer Science - Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition;
- Computer Science - Machine Learning;
- Physics - Medical Physics;
- Physics - Optics
- E-Print:
- 26 Pages, 5 Figures