TY  - JOUR
AU  - Costello, Sean SP
AU  - Johnston, Daniel J
AU  - Dervan, Peter A
AU  - O'Shea, Daniel G
PY  - 2003
DA  - 2003/6/13
TI  - Development and Evaluation of the Virtual Pathology Slide: A New Tool in Telepathology
JO  - J Med Internet Res
SP  - e11
VL  - 5
IS  - 2
KW  - Telepathology
KW  - Internet
KW  - telemicroscopy
KW  - remote diagnosis
KW  - virtual slide
KW  - pathology
KW  - imaging
AB  - Background: The Virtual Pathology Slide is an interactive microscope emulator that presents, via the Internet or CD-ROM, a complete 15.53 mm x 11.61 mm digitalized tissue section. The Virtual Pathology Slide mimics the use of a microscope in both the stepwise increase in magnification (from 16x up to 2000x) and in lateral motion in the X and Y Cartesian directions. This permits a pathologist to navigate to any area on a slide, at any magnification, similar to a conventional microscope. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy and acceptability of the Virtual Pathology Slide. Methods: Ten breast needle core biopsies were randomly selected and presented to 17 pathologists or trainee pathologists with at least 2 years experience in pathology practice. Participants were required to examine each case online and provide a diagnostic classification using online feedback forms. The recorded data permitted examination of interobserver variability and user satisfaction. Results: Agreement between original glass-slide diagnosis and consensus diagnosis using the Virtual Pathology Slide was reached in 9 out of 10 slides. Percentage concordance for slides lay in the range of 35.3% to 100% with an average percentage concordance between slides of 66.5%. The average Kappa statistics for interobserver agreement was 0.75 while average percentage concordance amongst participants was 66.5%. Participants looked at an average of 22 fields of view while examining each slide. Confidence: 81.25% of the participants indicated confidence using the Virtual Pathology Slide to make a diagnostic decision, with 56.25% describing themselves as "reasonably confident," 18.75% as "confident," and 6.25% as "very confident." Ease of use: 68.75% reported the system as "easy" or "very easy" to use. Satisfaction: 87.5% of participants expressed satisfaction with image quality, with 43.75% describing the image quality as "adequate," 25% describing it as "good," and 18.75% describing the image quality as "excellent." Pathologists with a working bandwidth greater than 20 kilobits per second found the download speed of the Virtual Pathology Slide "adequate" or better. Conclusions: Results from this study show that the Virtual Pathology Slide can be used to make a correct diagnostic decision, and that the system is a realistic alternative to dynamic telepathology. 
SN  - 1438-8871
UR  - http://www.jmir.org/2003/2/e11/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.5.2.e11
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12857667
DO  - 10.2196/jmir.5.2.e11
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/jmir.5.2.e11
ER  -