Abstract
Digital pathology (DP) is being deployed in many pathology laboratories, but most reported experiences refer to public health facilities. In this paper, we report our experience in DP transition at a high-volume private laboratory, addressing the main challenges in DP implementation in a private practice setting and how to overcome these issues. We started our implementation in 2020 and we are currently scanning 100% of our histology cases. Pre-existing sample tracking infrastructure facilitated this process. We are currently using two high-capacity scanners (Aperio GT450DX) to digitize all histology slides at 40×. Aperio eSlide Manager WebViewer viewing software is bidirectionally linked with the laboratory information system. Scanning error rate, during the test phase, was 2.1% (errors detected by the scanners) and 3.5% (manual quality control). Pre-scanning phase optimizations and vendor feedback and collaboration were crucial to improve WSI quality and are ongoing processes. Regarding pathologists’ validation, we followed the Royal College of Pathologists recommendations for DP implementation (adapted to our practice). Although private sector implementation of DP is not without its challenges, it will ultimately benefit from DP safety and quality-associated features. Furthermore, DP deployment lays the foundation for artificial intelligence tools integration, which will ultimately contribute to improving patient care.
Highlights
Digital pathology (DP) is gaining momentum worldwide as an innovative technology associated with improved laboratory efficiency and productivity
As a way to test the DP system, before full implementation, we took advantage of our Research and Development (R&D) department’s simultaneous artificial intelligence (AI) project in colorectal cancer samples [15] and we evaluated the quality of 2963 digitized slides (1664 archive cases and 1299 routine cases)
Implementation Track, Challenges and Opportunities Diagnostics 2022, 12A, 5l2t9hough we can pinpoint the kick-off of our implementation to the scan4 onfe10rs installation (23 September 2020), the process began much earlier, around 2018, from the initial idea, to p3l.aRnensiunltgs the project’s feasibility, raising funds and assembling a team (Figure 1)
Summary
Digital pathology (DP) is gaining momentum worldwide as an innovative technology associated with improved laboratory efficiency and productivity. The reasons for low DP adoption in private practice laboratories are mostly related to the initial high costs of implementation, necessary workflow adjustments and pathologists’ receptivity. This is counterbalanced with future prospects of laboratory expenses reduction [8,9], easy remote access to cases and simple web-based case consultation by expert colleagues and improved data security [10,11]. Already available digital tools to assist diagnosis (such as easy measuring, pinpointing or annotating relevant areas, etc.)
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