Digital Pathology is a Fast and Effective Platform for Providing Head and Neck Pathology Consultations

Abstract

Surgical pathology of the head and neck is one of the more challenging areas in all of diagnostic pathology. Its unparalleled diversity and complexity renders it highly vulnerable to diagnostic error compelling unconstrained access to specialized diagnostic expertise. Digital pathology (DP) is a state-of-the-art tool that could facilitate access to specialized expertise, but it is relatively untested in the context of pathology consultations. In a collaboration between Labcorp Dianon and a large academic hospital with subspecialized surgical pathology, DP was implemented to provide the pathology community access to head and neck pathology expertise. From this collaborative experience, glass slides from consecutive consult cases that had been previously diagnosed using DP were reviewed by an expert consultant in a blinded manner following an extended wash-out period. The intraobserver discrepancy rate was recorded. Major discrepancies were defined as those resulting in significant impact on clinical management and/or prognosis, whereas minor discrepancies were those with no impact on care or prognosis. Slides from 57 cases were available for review. The average wash-out period was 19 months. Five discrepancies were recorded (intraobserver concordance rate of 91%). All discrepancies were minor (major discrepancy rate, 0%; minor discrepancy rate, 9%). On appraisal of the discrepant cases, discordant diagnoses were attributed to subjective differences in interpretation rather than objective differences related to the inferiority of DP. DP decreased the median turnaround time by 97% (from 70 h 26 min to 2 h 25 min). DP provides efficient and fast access to expert consultants. The speed of case delivery does not compromise diagnostic precision. Discrepancies are uncommon, minor, and reflect subjective interpretative differences inherent to difficult and ambiguous head and neck cases, and not the inferiority of DP as a diagnostic platform. High concordance can be achieved even for those difficult and complex cases that are concentrated in the consultation practice. This observation carries profound implications regarding universal health care access to specialized diagnostic expertise.