A property concept frame representation for flexible image-content retrieval in histopathology databases.

In histopathology databases, images descriptions are collections of properties provided by experts. Image content retrieval implies comparison of such properties. The objective of this work is to enrich the traditional attribute-value representation of properties in order to take into account the polymorphism and subjectivity of properties and to manage the comparison process. In this paper we define a property concept frame (PCF) representation based on fuzzy logic to handle both representation and comparison. Seven quantifiable morphological characteristics were selected from histopathological reports to illustrate the variety of fuzzy predicates and linguistic terms in properties. The PCF representation has been tested in the context of breast pathology. It is concluded that the PCF representation provides a unification scheme to retrieve in images morphological characteristics that are described in different ways. It may enhance the relevancy of applications in various contexts such as image content-based retrieval or case-based reasoning from images.