Automated Label-Free Classification of Circulating Tumor Cells and White Blood Cells Using Hyperspectral Imaging and Deep Learning on Microfluidic SACA Chip System
K-ResNet) for pixel-level feature extraction and a modified ResNet50 for structural image analysis. While spectral classification achieved ~80% accuracy for cultured cell lines, its performance on patient-derived CTCs was hindered by subtle spectral overlap with white blood cells (WBCs). To overcome this, a multi-band ensemble strategy using majority voting across seven optimized spectral bands (470-900 nm) was developed. This hybrid approach significantly enhanced detection robustness, achieving an overall accuracy of >93.5% and precision exceeding 92%. These results demonstrate that combining microfluidic spatial control with multi-band deep learning offers a reliable, label-free pipeline for clinical liquid biopsy and real-time cancer monitoring.
Authors
- Chen-Hsi Hung
- Fan‐Gang Tseng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7654-6905)
- Shun‐Chi Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9337-2927)
- Mang Ou-Yang
- Jon-Nan Chiu
- Yi-Wen Chen
Institutions
- National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (TW)
- National Tsing Hua University (TW)
- Research Center for Applied Science, Academia Sinica (TW)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Micromachines
- Published
- 2026-04-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040472
- Primary Topic
- Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Shanghai Educational Development Foundation
- National Health Research Institutes
- National Tsing Hua University
- Taipei Veterans General Hospital
- National Science and Technology Council