Automatic Inhibition Zone Diameter Measurement for Disc Diffusion Test Using Image Segmentation

Abstract

Automation of Antimicrobial Susceptibility Test (AST) for faster results and the cheaper cost is gaining importance for effective medical diagnosis. Among all the available methods for AST, disk diffusion is the cheaper one, requires less skill, and it is applicable for telemetry. The diameters of the Inhibition zones are calculated using image processing and computer vision techniques to provide easy and automated data for further processing, however, the result of a particular antibiotic is Susceptible (S), Intermediate (I), or resistance (R). In this paper, the agar plate images, which were prepared for the AST, have been taken with 23 antibiotics and 12 bacteria and the image bank of about 170 images with 513 inhibition zones has been developed. For the diameter calculation of the inhibition zones, four methods are developed. In the first method, the diameter is calculated using the watershed segmentation method which requires manual interference, in the second method, modified edge detection is used instead of edge detection in the watershed segmentation, in the third method a semi-automatic method is developed using segmentation with active contours, and in the fourth one, an automatic method is used based on the fuzzy clustering along with Level set methods (FCLSM). The evaluation is done using kappa and correlation indices. The results show that these methods are giving better results within the tolerable limits for automation. In this paper, the same agar plate image with 11 antibiotics is taken to compare developed methods with the manual method and satisfying results are obtained.

KEYWORDS:

• Active contours
• Antimicrobial susceptibility test
• Fuzzy clustering
• Inhibition zone measurement
• Level set methods
• Morphological processing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

B. Keerthi Priya

B Keerthi Priya is an assistant professor in the Department of ECE, Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering (A). She is having 8 years of teaching experience. She is currently pursuing PhD degree at Andhra University. She is a corporate Member of IETE. She is currently EC Member for IETE Visakhapatnam Centre and also IETE Student Branch faculty coordinator of Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering (A). Her other memberships in professional bodies are life member ISSS, life member ISOI, life member IAEng, and member IEEE. Her research interests are medical image processing, VLSI system design, IoT, and AI.

D. Akhila Reddy

D Akhila Reddy is a student of Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, College of Engineering, Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam. She is in IEEE India council student coordination team in the capacity of the webinar and online training for the 2021–22. She is student member of IETE and a member of IEEE. Her research interests are IoT and AI. Email: [email protected]

A. Daisy Rani

A Daisy Rani received a PhD degree in MEMS technologies from the College of Engineering, Andhra University (AU) in 2015. She is working as an assistant professor in the Department of Instrument Technology, Andhra University College of Engineering (A), Visakhapatnam, India. The MEMS design, NANO technology nd low-power VLSI digital circuits are her areas of research. She published more than 18 papers in international journals. Email: [email protected]

Neelima Kalahasthi

K Neelima is a professor and head of the Department in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, VBIT, Hyderabad with an overall experience of 14.5 years. She is an expert in the different areas of power systems like computer methods in power systems, power system operation control, electrical distribution systems, artificial intelligence etc. She has extensive research expertise in distribution systems by applying the latest technological approaches in optimizing power distribution. She has published five papers in international and national conferences and 16 in international journals. Email: [email protected]

Wasim Ghder Soliman

Wasim Ghder Soliman received the BSc (Hons) degree in industrial automation engineering from Tartous University, Tartus, Syria, in 2011, the ME degree in instrument and control engineering from the L D College of Engineering, GTU University, Ahmedabad, India, in 2016, and the PhD degree from the Instrument Technology Department, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India, in 2021. His research interests include microprocessor-based control systems and the industrial internet of things. Email: [email protected]

D. V. Rama Koti Reddy

D V Rama Koti Reddy is currently working as professor in the Department Instrument Technology, A U College of Engineering, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India. He is having 29 years of teaching experience. He is former chairman for IETE, Visakhapatnam chapter and also former secretary of IETE Visakhapatnam Centre. His other memberships in professional Bodies are Fellow, IETE, Member IEEE, Member ASEE, Member ISA, Life Member ISSS, Senior Member IACSIT, Life Member, IAEng, Member & Charted Engineer, IE, Life Member ISOI, Life Member, Energy Conversion Mission, His field of interests includes medical image processing, IoT, embedded systems, nano technology, and sensor networking. Email: [email protected]