Table 4 Comparison of resource requirements for methods
Resource | Image SXM | ImageJ |
|---|---|---|
Equipment required for sputum induction and sample processing | Identical specialist equipment and facilities required regardless of analysis method | |
Image acquisition equipment | Microscope with x40 objective and digital image capturing capabilities | Microscope with x100a objective and digital image capturing capabilities |
Analysis software availability | In the public domain – available free of charge | In the public domain – available free of charge |
Additional image editing software | Purchase required | Not required |
Operating system for analysis software | Compatible with Mac operating systems | Compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems |
File type availability | TIFF | JPEG, TIFF, GIF, BMP, DICOM, FITS and ‘raw’ |
Time required for sputum induction and processing | Approximately 90–120 min per participant | |
Time required for image acquisition (median) | 15 min | 27 min |
Time required for image analysis (including image editing if required) (median) | 54 min | 26 min |