Development of an Artificial Intelligence-Based Chromosome Interpretation System for Amniotic Fluid Karyotyping
Abstract
Conventional G-banded karyotyping remains indispensable in prenatal diagnosis but continues to rely on labor-intensive, expertise-dependent visual examination. To address these challenges, we developed a modular artificial intelligence (AI) workflow that automates chromosome interpretation from amniotic fluid metaphase images. The system integrates image denoising, chromosome segmentation, overlap screening, and morphology-based classification, and was trained using 13,223 clinical cases comprising more than 50,000 manually annotated chromosomes. Across training, temporal validation, and independent testing cohorts, classification accuracy remained consistently high (97.45%, 96.95%, and 95.72%, respectively). The overlap-recognition module further reduced downstream errors by reliably identifying composite chromosome regions. When applied to unsorted metaphase images from a later clinical cohort, the workflow successfully generated draft karyotypes without manual sorting and maintained close concordance with expert review. These findings demonstrate that an AI-assisted pipeline can support cytogenetic laboratories by streamlining the most labor-intensive steps of karyotyping, potentially enhancing diagnostic efficiency while preserving interpretive reliability.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Prenatal Screening and Diagnostics
Cell Image Analysis Techniques
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
Publication details
- Journal / source
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1746–1746
- Publication date
- 11 February 2026
- Language
- EN