Digital Microscopy Imaging and New Approaches in Toxicologic Pathology

Abstract

Digital microscopy, a comprehensive integration of digital imaging and light microscopy, can assist the pathologist to observe, acquire, record, share, analyze, and manage pathology image data. To lead the activity for establishing new generation digital microscopy capacity, novel concepts and strategies of digital pathology information flow and digital pathology platform were designed to integrate personal digital pathology microscopy workstations and other pathology imaging modalities with centralized data storage/management. In addition, a strategy for Web-enabled interactive telepathology that would permit global capacity was designed. A novel concept of high content pathology was also created to develop an automated tissue microscopy imaging and screening approach. These new concepts, strategies, and approaches guided the development and implementation of a digital pathology platform, a telepathology platform, and automated tissue slide imaging capacity. Digital microscopy photography is now able to replace photographic film in toxicologic pathology. Digital pathology and telepathology platforms can provide a networked environment for multisite, global team participation. Our practice also ascertained the central value of digital microscopy which can provide innovative quantitative pathology information and data mining capability with various imaging biomarkers via advanced digital image processing and pathology informatics; these are now the focus of ongoing development.

Utilizing Whole Slide Images for Pathology Peer Review and Working Groups

“…Guidelines for validation of digital pathology systems in the regulated nonclinical environment or the clinical diagnostic environment are documented in Long et al (2013) and Pantanowitz et al (2013). As indicated by McCullough et al (2004), there will be an expected reluctance to accept new or unproven methodology. Therefore, to improve the comfort level of pathologists and ensure adequacy, these new methods need to be compared with, and evaluated against, time-tested and accepted conventional methodologies.…”

“…Many of the newer concepts, strategies, and approaches discussed by McCullough et al (2004) in regard to the integration of digital imaging and light microscopy have come to fruition. However, it is imperative that digital technology not be automatically implemented in toxicologic pathology without due consideration of accuracy, advantages, and disadvantages in the regulated environment.…”

Modern Imaging Technologies in Toxicologic Pathology: An Overview

“…Meanwhile, light microscopy imaging techniques with biological applications continue to develop due to innovations of novel fluorescence probes, confocal microscopy, automated microscopy and digital imaging. (Shotton, 1993;Wootton, 1995;Giuliano and Taylor, 1998;McCullough et al, 2004;Pawley, 2006). This overview will summarize the recent advances in digital pathology microimaging, digital slide scan techniques, virtual microscopy imaging, and new generation digital pathology platform ap-proaches.…”

Simultaneous Dual-Color Fluorescence Microscope: A Characterization Study

“…Automated whole slide scanning to generate digital microscopic slides is an essential element of digital pathology [3]. Most commercial available wide-field FISH systems rely on switching motorized filter wheels for acquiring multiple FISH wavelengths during the slide digitization process.…”