Development of a database system and image viewer to assist in the correlation of histopathologic features and digital image analysis with clinical and molecular genetic information

Abstract

Pathologists are required to integrate data from multiple sources when making a diagnosis. Furthermore, whole slide imaging (WSI) and next generation sequencing will escalate data size and complexity. Development of well-designed databases that can allow efficient navigation between multiple data types is necessary for both clinical and research purposes. We developed and evaluated an interactive, webbased database that integrates clinical, histologic, immunohistochemical and genetic information to aid in pathologic diagnosis and interpretation with nine lung adenocarcinoma cases. To minimize sectioning artifacts, representative blocks were serially sectioned using automated tissue sectioning (Kurabo Industries, Osaka Japan) and selected slides were stained by multiple techniques, (hematoxylin and eosin [H&E], immunohistochemistry [IHC] or fluorescence in situ hybridization [FISH]). Slides were digitized by WSI scanners. An interactive relational database was designed based on a list of proposed fields covering a variety of clinical, pathologic and molecular parameters. By focusing on the three main tasks of 1.) efficient management of textual information, 2.) effective viewing of all varieties of stained whole slide images (WSI), and 3.) assistance in evaluating WSI with computer-aided diagnosis, this database prototype shows great promise for multi-modality research and diagnosis.Key words: database management system, genetic information, lung adenocarcinoma, image analysis, histopathology Digital pathology has started to assume an important role in pathology diagnosis, especially the use of whole slide imaging (WSI), which allows for consistent quantitative analysis of histological slides.1-3 Whole slide images are generated by robotic, microscope-like devices that scan and digitize glass slides. There are currently around twenty commercially available devices that are capable of scanning glass slides and combining individual scanned fields into a single composite image file. Due to the interest of many researchers from around the globe, the technology has advanced since it was first introduced more than about twenty years ago. We have been involved in the development of advanced WSI scanners since then and related technologies instrumental for imaging projects. Whole slide images produced today are of excellent quality and may be shared over the internet or through data storage devices. Image viewing software permits navigation, editing, annotation, and analysis of these images. However, image analysis results are often affected by the quality of whole slide images, and the quality of whole slide images are affected by the quality of tissue slides. For example, in our previous study 4 we found that consistent thickness of tissue slides and absence of tissue artifacts will result in good image quality and consistent analysis results.As WSI technology improves, it has the potential to contribute novel and complex diagnostic discoveries. For example, in pathology, the relationship between an observed histomorph...

Eradication of damaged keratinocytes in cutaneous lichen planus forms demonstrated by evaluation of epidermal and follicular expression of CK15, indices of apoptosis and regulatory protein S100

“…Similarly, no statistical difference between the variance of performance when comparing glass and digital interpretations was found by other researchers [65,66]. Still, it seems that, when applying a digital approach, one should be careful to focus on specific pathology tasks to reduce sources of variability diluting findings [67], and prevent escalation of data size and complexity developing in well-designed databases [68]. In our study, the CK15 antibody stained hair follicles, where it often remained negative in the interfollicular epidermal region, and, especially, when localized next to inflammatory infiltrate.…”

Accurate and Robust Alignment of Differently Stained Histologic Images Based on Greedy Diffeomorphic Registration

“…Although the scope of this study focused on the registration of consecutive whole-slide images, the overarching goal of this work was to contribute towards reconstruction the 3D anatomical tissue structure from 2D histology slices [ 43 , 49 , 50 ], irrespective of the staining applied to them, in order to give more context and evaluate the association of anatomical structures in the microscopic scale with the molecular characterization of the associate tissue samples. Notably, this is of interest in cancer, where such associations are already evaluated in the macroscopic scale on the basis of radiographic representations [ 51 – 54 ]. Moreover, the proposed approach could complement databases, such as the one described by Yagi et al [ 32 ], that consider differently stained whole-slide images, and integrating clinical, histologic, immunohistochemical, and genetic information to contribute towards multi-parametric research and aid in pathologic diagnosis by optimizing the effective viewing and evaluation of differently stained whole slide images.…”

Reconhecimento de artefatos durante a análise de lâminas histológicas: uma revisão integrativa

“…Esse processo pode mudar consideravelmente a cor das lâminas histológicas. Além disso, a normalização sequencial das imagens gera artefatos estruturais (Zheng, 2019;Izadyyazdanabadi, 2019;Yagi, 2016). Uma análise 3D, no entanto, requer uma reconstrução precisa do volume do tecido da pilha de imagens 2D, porém segundo Paknezhad, deve-se considerar a forte presença de deformações de tecido nas fatias virtuais adquiridas e o grande tamanho dessas imagens, assim, os métodos baseados em pontos de referência podem ser mal orientados por regiões altamente deformadas no tecido (Paknezhad, 2020).…”