Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Department of Pathology, Shiraz Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: The use of digital imaging in pathology has transformed this traditional field into what is now termed digital pathology. Digital pathology plays an important role in modern clinical practice and is increasingly viewed as a technological necessity in laboratory settings.
Methods: One hundred surgical pathology biopsy cases from five different organ systems were randomly selected. Initially, three pathologists reported on the corresponding glass slides as per routine clinical workflow. Subsequently, the glass slides were de-identified, scanned, and stored. After a 13-week washout period, the same three pathologists re-reported the cases using the scanned digital slide images. The data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 27.
Results: A total of 239 glass slides from 100 pathology cases were examined. Using the primary diagnosis from the optical (glass slide) method as the gold standard, the overall diagnostic concordance rate for the digital method was 93%.
Conclusion: The results demonstrated a high level of diagnostic equivalence between digital slide images and glass slides within a real clinical workflow. This study supported the validity of scanned slide images, indicating they are not inferior to traditional glass slides in terms of diagnostic accuracy.
Keywords
- Ahmed AA, Abouzid M, Kaczmarek E. Deep learning approaches in histopathology. Cancers (Basel). 2022;14(21):5264.
- Pallua JD, Brunner A, Zelger B, Schirmer M, Haybaeck J. The future of pathology is digital. Pathol Res Pract. 2020;216(9):153040.
- Lu MY, Williamson DFK, Chen TY, Chen RJ, Barbieri M, Mahmood F. Data-efficient and weakly supervised computational pathology on whole-slide images. Nat Biomed Eng. 2021;5(6):555-70.
- Jahn SW, Plass M, Moinfar F. Digital pathology: advantages, limitations and emerging perspectives. J Clin Med. 2020;9(11):3697.
- Leong FJ, Leong AS. Digital imaging in pathology: theoretical and practical considerations, and applications. Pathology. 2004;36(3):234-41.
- Bernard C, Chandrakanth SA, Cornell IS, Dalton J, Evans A, Garcia BM, et al. Guidelines from the Canadian Association of Pathologists for establishing a telepathology service for anatomic pathology using whole-slide imaging: the Canadian Association of Pathologists Telepathology Guidelines Committee. J Pathol Inform. 2014;5(1):15.
- Fraggetta F, L’Imperio V, Ameisen D, Carvalho R, Leh S, Kiehl TR, et al. Best practice recommendations for the implementation of a digital pathology workflow in the anatomic pathology laboratory by the European Society of Digital and Integrative Pathology (ESDIP). Diagnostics (Basel). 2021;11(11):2167.
- Rajaganesan S, Kumar R, Rao V, Pai T, Mittal N, Sahay A, et al. Comparative assessment of digital pathology systems for primary diagnosis. J Pathol Inform. 2021;12:25.
- Snead DR, Tsang YW, Meskiri A, Kimani PK, Crossman R, Rajpoot NM, et al. Validation of digital pathology imaging for primary histopathological diagnosis. Histopathology. 2016;68(7):1063-72.
- Evans AJ, Bauer TW, Bui MM, Cornish TC, Duncan H, Glassy EF, et al. US Food and Drug Administration approval of whole slide imaging for primary diagnosis: a key milestone is reached and new questions are raised. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2018;142(11):1383-7.
- Babaie M, Kalra S, Sriram A, Mitcheltree C, Zhu S, Khatami A, et al. Classification and retrieval of digital pathology scans: a new dataset. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops; 2017. p. 8-16.
- Weinstein RS, Graham AR, Richter LC, Barker GP, Krupinski EA, Lopez AM, et al. Overview of telepathology, virtual microscopy, and whole slide imaging: prospects for the future. Hum Pathol. 2009;40(8):1057-69.
- Pantanowitz L. Digital images and the future of digital pathology. J Pathol Inform. 2010;1:1.
- Vodovnik A. Diagnostic time in digital pathology: a comparative study on 400 cases. J Pathol Inform. 2016;7:4.
- Thrall MJ, Wimmer JL, Schwartz MR. Validation of multiple whole slide imaging scanners based on the guideline from the College of American Pathologists Pathology and Laboratory Quality Center. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2015;139(5):656-64.
- Bauer TW, Slaw RJ. Validating whole-slide imaging for consultation diagnoses in surgical pathology. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2014;138(11):1459-65.
- Pantanowitz L, Sinard JH, Henricks WH, Fatheree LA, Carter AB, Contis L, et al. Validating whole slide imaging for diagnostic purposes in pathology: guideline from the College of American Pathologists Pathology and Laboratory Quality Center. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2013;137(12):1710-22.
- Mills AM, Gradecki SE, Horton BJ, Blackwell R, Moskaluk CA, Mandell JW, et al. Diagnostic efficiency in digital pathology: a comparison of optical versus digital assessment in 510 surgical pathology cases. Am J Surg Pathol. 2018;42(1):53-9.
- Hanna MG, Reuter VE, Hameed MR, Tan LK, Chiang S, Sigel C, et al. Whole slide imaging equivalency and efficiency study: experience at a large academic center. Mod Pathol. 2019;32(7):916-28.
- Randell R, Ruddle RA, Thomas RG, Mello-Thoms C, Treanor D. Diagnosis of major cancer resection specimens with virtual slides: impact of a novel digital pathology workstation. Hum Pathol. 2014;45(10):2101-6.
)