Current and future delivery of diagnostic electron microscopy in the UK: results of a national survey

Abstract

In the current financial climate it seems unlikely that units will be willing to make the large investment in equipment and staff needed to take on extra work, unless they can be reasonably confident of an acceptable financial return as a result of increased external referral rates. The case is thus made for a degree of national coordination of the future provision of this specialist service, possibly through the National Commissioning Group or the new National Commissioning Board. Without this, the future of diagnostic EM services in the UK is uncertain. Its failure would pose a threat to good patient care.

Preparation of large-scale digitization samples for automated electron microscopy of tissue and cell ultrastructure

“…Routine application of large-scale digitization using LDS may ideally be achieved in specialized EM facilities to make nanotomy available to a broad usership, matching current trends to centralize state-of-the-art technology for the sake of cost reduction and improved quality management 3,33 . In research applications, digitization of entire sections will substantially improve analyses of cultured cells, organoids, animal models and human tissues with more detail and at higher throughput 7-9, 15, 34 .…”

“…In research applications, digitization of entire sections will substantially improve analyses of cultured cells, organoids, animal models and human tissues with more detail and at higher throughput 7-9, 15, 34 . Medical diagnostic applications will be improved as well by the use of LDS, since for instance, about 20 entire renal glomeruli may be digitized overnight with SEM-STEM for optimal diagnostic accuracy 1,3 . Future innovation in SEM-and TEM technology will allow faster imaging in conventional EM systems that may equally profit from LDS methodology 35,36 .…”

“…In diagnosis of disease, EM is irreplaceable for muscle or kidney biopsies 1,2 . The traditional workflow for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with an operator interactively screening specimens at low magnification and selecting targets of interest for snapshots at high resolution may, however, be time-consuming, laborious, and sensitive to bias so that its use became diminished over the past decades despite its undisputed values 3,4 . Consequent loss of expertise may lead to misinterpretations as recently reported for coronavirus particle structure in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic 3,5,6 .…”

A workflow for visualizing human cancer biopsies using large-format electron microscopy

“…Traditionally, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has long been used as a pathology tool and method for viewing cellular ultrastructure (de Haro & Furness, 2012;Friedmann, 1961).…”

The role of electron microscopy in kidney lesions: A review of its diagnostic importance

“…5,7 An study performed in the U.K. surveyed several hospitals with electron microscopes and found that they would eventually be closing and outsourcing their material to other institutions. 8 In addition to the previously mentioned limitations, retirement of trained staff and lack of training of younger technicians werecited as important causes of potential closure of these facilities.…”