Transnational telepathology consultations using a basic digital microscope: experience in the Italy-Slovenjia INTERREG project “Patient without borders”

Abstract

BackgroundIn recent years, a number of technological advancements started to modify the long standing appearance and functionalities of traditional optical microscopes used in Pathology and other medical fields. In fact, at present many new tools for microscopical visualization exist that are based on digital imaging, robotization, and remote communication. Such tools are typically adopted in activities ranging from education to telediagnosis to remote consultation.Present paper describes the features of a basic digital microscope that has been tested to verify its performance for occasional remote consultation inside an international project between Italy and Slovenija, funded by Interreg initiative of the European Regional Development Fund.MethodsThe system is composed by a pair of digital microscopes (Leica DMD108, Leitz Microsystems, Wetzlar, Germany) associated to a high resolution videoconferencing systems (Tandberg 990, Lysaker, Norway). The systems are connected through the Internet. Sixty histology and cytology cases have been collaboratively diagnosed between two Pathology Institutes to verify the diagnostic performance of the system, regarding the image quality point of view as well as time needed for diagnosis. The system has also been tested for compatibility with standard videoconferencing software.ResultsNo discrepancies between local and remote diagnoses have been identified, with diagnosis time reasonably close to typical microscope observation times. Time needed for most operations is not far from that needed on a traditional microscope, except for startup.ConclusionsThe system can be considered usable as a standard microscope, and also for occasional remote consultations.

The Empirical Foundations of Telepathology: Evidence of Feasibility and Intermediate Effects

“…The performance of a binational (Slovenia and Italy) telepathology consultation program was assessed in terms of feasibility, diagnostic quality of images, and communication reliability. 89 Sixty histology and cytology cases were used to assess image quality, time needed for diagnosis, and system compatibility with standard videoconferencing software. The results did not reveal any discrepancies between local and remote diagnosis.…”

Point de vue : une leçon tirée du confinement, l’histopathologie en visioconférence

“…Les publications scientifiques spécifiques à la pratique de l’histologie ou de la pathologie par visioconférence sont relativement rares avec moins de 30 publications ces 10 dernières années. L’approche technique utilise soit des méthodes de télépathologie dédiée, soit la méthode du partage d’écran dans une application comme Skype, soit en partageant le flux vidéo d’une caméra reliée au microscope [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] et plus rarement à partir de lames virtuelles [14] , [15] , [16] . Les applications rapportées étaient le diagnostic histopathologique [17] , [18] ou cytologique [5] , [14] , les examens extemporanés et la chirurgie micrographique [13] , la microscopie confocale [19] , le recours dans le cadre de réseaux nationaux [15] ou internationaux [20] et l’enseignement [9] , [11] , [16] .…”