Large mass from the abdomen of a cat, surrounded by the greater omentum. Inset: Cut surface of the mass, showing 'sulphur granules'. Haematoxylin and eosin. x 50 FIG 2: Granulomatous lesions in the mass. Inset: Splendore-Hoeppli material around the bacterial colonies. Haematoxylin and eosin. x 260

Background Morphological characteristics of blood cells are still qualitatively defined. So a texture analysis (Tx) method using gray level co‐occurrence matrices (GLCMs; CM‐Tx method) was applied to images of erythrocyte precursor cells (EPCs) for quantitatively distinguishing four types of EPC stages: proerythroblast, basophilic erythroblast, polychromatic erythroblast, and orthochromatic erythroblast. Methods Fifty‐five images of four types of EPCs were downloaded from an atlas uploaded by the Blood Cell Morphology Standardization Subcommittee (BCMSS) of the Japanese Society of Laboratory Hematology (JSLH). Using in‐house programs, two types of GLCMs—(R: d=1, θ=0°) and (U: d=1, θ=270°)—and nine types of texture distinction index (TDI) were calculated with images removed outer part of cell. Results Three binary decision trees were sequentially divided among four types of EPC with the sum average of GLCM (U), the contrast of GLCM (R), and the sum average of GLCM (U). The average concordance rate (sensitivity) of CM‐Tx method with the judgments of eleven experts in the BCMSS of the JSLH was 95.8% (87.5‐100.0), and the average specificity was 97.6% (92.5‐100.0). Conclusions The CM‐Tx method is an effective tool for quantitative distinction of EPC with their morphological features.

The CM-Tx method can distinguish five types of PB WBCs by using numerical differences only in texture futures quantified with GLCM. However, some other method was needed to distinguish the band and segmented form neutrophils from each other.

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