SAMMI: Segment Anything Model for Malaria Identification

Zedda L.;Loddo A.;Di Ruberto C.

2024-01-01

---

Abstract

Malaria, a life-threatening disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite, is a pressing global health challenge. Timely detection is critical for effective treatment. This paper introduces a novel computer-aided diagnosis system for detecting Plasmodium parasites in blood smear images, aiming to enhance automation and accessibility in comprehensive screening scenarios. Our approach integrates the Segment Anything Model for precise unsupervised parasite detection. It then employs a deep learning framework, combining Convolutional Neural Networks and Vision Transformer to accurately classify malaria-infected cells. We rigorously evaluate our system using the IML public dataset and compare its performance against various off-the-shelf object detectors. The results underscore the efficacy of our method, demonstrating superior accuracy in detecting and classifying malaria-infected cells. This innovative Computer-aided diagnosis system presents a reliable and near real-time solution for malaria diagnosis, offering significant potential for widespread implementation in healthcare settings. By automating the diagnosis process and ensuring high accuracy, our system can contribute to timely interventions, thereby advancing the fight against malaria globally.