Faster than light (microscopy): superiority of digital pathology over microscopy for assessment of immunohistochemistry
View/ Open
clarke_et_al_2023.pdf (498.0Kb)
Download
Publication date
2023-04-19Rights
(c) 2023 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Peer-Reviewed
YesOpen Access status
openAccess
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Digital pathology offers the potential for significant benefits in diagnostic pathology, but currently the efficiency of slide viewing is a barrier to adoption. We hypothesised that presenting digital slides for simultaneous viewing of multiple sections of tissue for comparison, as in those with immunohistochemical panels, would allow pathologists to review cases more quickly. Novel software was developed to view synchronised parallel tissue sections on a digital pathology workstation. Sixteen histopathologists reviewed three liver biopsy cases including an immunohistochemical panel using the digital microscope, and three different liver biopsy cases including an immunohistochemical panel using the light microscope. The order of cases and interface was fully counterbalanced. Time to diagnosis was recorded and mean times are presented as data approximated to a normalised distribution. Mean time to diagnosis was 4 min 3 s using the digital microscope and 5 min 24 s using the light microscope, saving 1 min 21 s (95% CI 16 s to 2 min 26 s; p=0.02), using the digital microscope. Overall normalised mean time to diagnosis was 85% on the digital pathology workstation compared with 115% on the microscope, a relative reduction of 26%. With appropriate interface design, it is quicker to review immunohistochemical slides using a digital microscope than the conventional light microscope, without incurring any major diagnostic errors. As digital pathology becomes more integrated with routine clinical workflow and pathologists increase their experience of the technology, it is anticipated that other tasks will also become more time-efficient.Version
Published versionCitation
Clarke E, Doherty D, Randell R et al (2023) Faster than light (microscopy): superiority of digital pathology over microscopy for assessment of immunohistochemistry. Journal of Clinical Pathology. 76(5): 333-338.Link to Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1136/jclinpath-2021-207961Type
Articleae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
https://doi.org/10.1136/jclinpath-2021-207961