Automatic Identification of Malaria-Infected RBC With Digital Holographic Microscopy Using Correlation Algorithms

Diagnosis of malaria is important for its medication and treatment. An automatic compact diagnostic tool will be advantageous especially for healthcare personnel working in developing countries, which lack trained professionals and high-quality equipments. Digital holographic microscopy is one of the advanced techniques for quantitative evaluation of cells, providing cell thickness information directly. This information obtained by interferometric comparison can be used to identify as well as to compare cells. Here, we describe the use of digital holographic interferometric microscopy (DHIM) with numerical focusing for automatic identification of malaria-infected red blood cells (RBCs). Identification is done by comparing its shape profile with that of a healthy RBC. A correlation function was used to separate healthy and malaria-infected RBCs.