Department of Large Animal Diseases and Clinic, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland.
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Białystok University of Technology, 15-351 Bialystok, Poland.
Sensors (Basel). 2021 Dec 28;22(1):191. doi: 10.3390/s22010191.
Infrared thermography (IRT) was applied as a potentially useful tool in the detection of pregnancy in equids, especially native or wildlife. IRT measures heat emission from the body surface, which increases with the progression of pregnancy as blood flow and metabolic activity in the uterine and fetal tissues increase. Conventional IRT imaging is promising; however, with specific limitations considered, this study aimed to develop novel digital processing methods for thermal images of pregnant mares to detect pregnancy earlier with higher accuracy. In the current study, 40 mares were divided into non-pregnant and pregnant groups and imaged using IRT. Thermal images were transformed into four color models (RGB, YUV, YIQ, HSB) and 10 color components were separated. From each color component, features of image texture were obtained using Histogram Statistics and Grey-Level Run-Length Matrix algorithms. The most informative color/feature combinations were selected for further investigation, and the accuracy of pregnancy detection was calculated. The image texture features in the RGB and YIQ color models reflecting increased heterogeneity of image texture seem to be applicable as potential indicators of pregnancy. Their application in IRT-based pregnancy detection in mares allows for earlier recognition of pregnant mares with higher accuracy than the conventional IRT imaging technique.
红外热成像（IRT）被应用于检测马属动物（尤其是本地或野生动物）妊娠的一种潜在有用工具。IRT 测量身体表面的热辐射，随着妊娠的进展，子宫和胎儿组织中的血流和代谢活动增加，热辐射也随之增加。传统的 IRT 成像具有很大的潜力；然而，考虑到具体的局限性，本研究旨在为妊娠母马的热图像开发新的数字处理方法，以更高的准确性更早地检测妊娠。在本研究中，将 40 匹母马分为非妊娠组和妊娠组，并使用 IRT 进行成像。将热图像转换为四种颜色模型（RGB、YUV、YIQ、HSB），并分离出 10 种颜色分量。从每个颜色分量中，使用直方图统计和灰度游程矩阵算法获得图像纹理特征。选择最具信息量的颜色/特征组合进行进一步研究，并计算妊娠检测的准确性。RGB 和 YIQ 颜色模型中反映图像纹理异质性增加的图像纹理特征似乎可作为妊娠的潜在指标。它们在基于 IRT 的母马妊娠检测中的应用可以比传统的 IRT 成像技术更早、更准确地识别妊娠母马。
