Practical guide to the use of digital slides in histopathology education.

Digital pathology (the technology whereby glass histology slides are scanned at high resolution, digitised, stored and shared with pathologists, who can view them using microscopy software on a screen) is transforming the delivery of clinical diagnostic pathology services around the world. In addition to adding value to clinical histopathology practice, digital histology slides provide a versatile medium to achieve the educational needs of a variety of learners including undergraduate students, postgraduate doctors in training and those pursuing continuing professional development portfolios. In this guide, we will review the principal use cases for digital slides in training and education and I will share tips for successful use of digital pathology to support a range of learners based on experience gathered at Leeds Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Trust and the National Pathology Imaging Co-Operative during the last 5 years of digital slide usage.

A commemoration of the "digital" side of Juan Rosai: a junior's perspective of the legacy of an all-round pathologist.

Juan Rosai, the "Maradona" of surgical pathology, played a role not only as a diagnostician but also as a researcher, a consultant and a teacher, distinguishing himself as a real icon at all levels of modern pathology. He was an innovative promoter of emerging technologies including digital pathology. These few lines commemorate the digital side of the "Maestro" Juan Rosai from a junior's perspective highlighting how Rosai supported digital pathology and remembering that, according to his own words, digital pathology "will revolutionize the field of pathology, if it is not doing that already".

Guidance for Remote Reporting of Digital Pathology Slides During Periods of Exceptional Service Pressure: An Emergency Response from the UK Royal College of Pathologists.

Pathology departments must rise to new staffing challenges caused by the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic and may need to work more flexibly for the foreseeable future. In light of this, many pathologists and departments are considering the merits of remote or home reporting of digital cases. While some individuals have experience of this, little work has been done to determine optimum conditions for home reporting, including technical and training considerations.

Clinical digital neuropathology: experience and observations from a departmental digital pathology training programme, validation and deployment.

Aim: To train and individually validate the neuropathologists in digital primary diagnosis and frozen section reporting using a novel protocol endorsed by the Royal College of Pathologists. The protocol allows early exposure to live digital reporting in a risk mitigated environment.

Methods: Two specialist neuropathologists completed training in the use of a digital microscopy system for primary neuropathological diagnosis and frozen section assessment.

Practical guide to training and validation for primary diagnosis with digital pathology.

Numerous clinical pathology departments are deploying or planning to deploy digital pathology systems for all or part of their diagnostic output. Digital pathology is an evolving technology, and it is important that departments uphold or improve on current standards. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has been scanning 100% of histology slides since September 2018.

Maintaining quality diagnosis with digital pathology: a practical guide to ISO 15189 accreditation.

An ever-increasing number of clinical pathology departments are deploying, or planning to deploy digital pathology systems for all, or part of their diagnostic output. Digital pathology is an evolving technology, and it is important that departments uphold or improve on current standards. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has been scanning 100% of histology slides since September 2018, and has developed validation and validation protocols to train 38 histopathology consultants in primary digital diagnosis.

Digital immunohistochemistry implementation, training and validation: experience and technical notes from a large clinical laboratory.

Aims: To consider the value proposition of digitisation of clinical immunohistochemistry services, and to develop an approach to digital immunohistochemistry implementation and validation in a large clinical laboratory.

Methods: A methodology for slide scanning in the laboratory was developed, in addition to a novel validation exercise, to allow pathologists to identify the strengths and weaknesses of digital immunohistochemistry reporting, and train in digital immunohistochemistry slide assessment.

Results: A total of 1480 digital immunohistochemistry slides were assessed by 24 consultant pathologists, with complete clinical concordance between the digital and the glass slide assessment observed.

Future-proofing pathology part 2: building a business case for digital pathology.

Diagnostic histopathology departments are experiencing unprecedented economic and service pressures, and many institutions are now considering digital pathology as part of the solution. In this document, a follow on to our case for adoption report, we provide information and advice to help departments create their own clear, succinct, individualised business case for the clinical deployment of digital pathology.

Digital pathology access and usage in the UK: results from a national survey on behalf of the National Cancer Research Institute's CM-Path initiative.

Aim: To canvass the UK pathology community to ascertain current levels of digital pathology usage in clinical and academic histopathology departments, and prevalent attitudes to digital pathology.

Methods: A 15-item survey was circulated to National Health Service and academic pathology departments across the UK using the SurveyMonkey online survey tool. Responses were sought at a departmental or institutional level.

Digital pathology for the primary diagnosis of breast histopathological specimens: an innovative validation and concordance study on digital pathology validation and training.

Aim: To train and individually validate a group of breast pathologists in specialty-specific digital primary diagnosis by using a novel protocol endorsed by the Royal College of Pathologists' new guideline for digital pathology. The protocol allows early exposure to live digital reporting, in a risk-mitigated environment, and focuses on patient safety and professional development.

Methods And Results: Three specialty breast pathologists completed training in the use of a digital microscopy system, and were exposed to a training set of 20 challenging cases, designed to help them identify personal digital diagnostic pitfalls.

Future-proofing pathology: the case for clinical adoption of digital pathology.

This document clarifies the strategic context of digital pathology adoption, defines the different use cases a healthcare provider may wish to consider as part of a digital adoption and summarises existing reasons for digital adoption and its potential benefits. The reader is provided with references to the relevant literature, and illustrative case studies. The authors hope this report will be of interest to healthcare providers, pathology managers, departmental heads, pathologists and biomedical scientists that are considering digital pathology, deployments or preparing business cases for digital pathology adoption in clinical settings.