Designing a Scalable YOLO-Based Decision Support Framework for Mitochondrial Analysis in EM Imaging

This study presents a scalable decision support system (DSS) framework designed to meet the growing demands of instant data-driven decision-making environments. The architecture integrates key technologies, including Apache Kafka for parallel data streaming, a Python-based data analytics module for distributed processing, JWT-based secure user authentication, and WebSocket communication for instantaneous prediction delivery. The system performs mitochondrial localization in electron microscopy (EM) images using multiple versions of the YOLO (You Only Look Once) object detection model. The publicly available CA1 Hippocampus dataset was used for detection evaluation. Among the evaluated models, YOLOv10x achieved the highest detection performance, yielding a mean average precision (mAP) score of 95.2%. Experimental evaluations of the DSS were conducted under simulated load conditions using the Artillery tool to assess the system’s scalability and responsiveness. Empirical results indicate consistent low-latency performance across varying consumer group sizes, confirming the architecture’s ability to scale the analytics module horizontally without compromising responsiveness. These findings validate the system’s suitability for just-in-time decision support applications. In particular, the system may support clinicians in the task of mitochondrial analysis, where structural abnormalities can be indicative of pathological conditions, including cancer. By enabling early detection of such abnormalities, the proposed framework has the potential to contribute to the timely diagnosis of diseases such as cancer. The proposed study differs from existing studies by combining deep learning with real-time scalable data processing technologies, such as Kafka and WebSocket, in a web-based DSS application for mitochondria detection.