Engineering the future of 3D pathology.

Journal: The journal of pathology. Clinical research
Published Date: Nov 2, 2023

Abstract

In recent years, technological advances in tissue preparation, high-throughput volumetric microscopy, and computational infrastructure have enabled rapid developments in nondestructive 3D pathology, in which high-resolution histologic datasets are obtained from thick tissue specimens, such as whole biopsies, without the need for physical sectioning onto glass slides. While 3D pathology generates massive datasets that are attractive for automated computational analysis, there is also a desire to use 3D pathology to improve the visual assessment of tissue histology. In this perspective, we discuss and provide examples of potential advantages of 3D pathology for the visual assessment of clinical specimens and the challenges of dealing with large 3D datasets (of individual or multiple specimens) that pathologists have not been trained to interpret. We discuss the need for artificial intelligence triaging algorithms and explainable analysis methods to assist pathologists or other domain experts in the interpretation of these novel, often complex, large datasets.

Authors

  • Jonathan Tc Liu
    Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
  • Sarah Sl Chow
    Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
  • Richard Colling
    Department of Cellular Pathology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK.
  • Michelle R Downes
    Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
  • Xavier Farré
    Department of Health, Public Health Agency of Catalonia, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain.
  • Peter Humphrey
    Department of Urology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
  • Andrew Janowczyk
    Biomedical Engineering Department, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Tuomas Mirtti
    Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
  • Clare Verrill
    Department of Cellular Pathology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK; Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK; NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK. Electronic address: Clare.Verrill@ouh.nhs.uk.
  • Inti Zlobec
    Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Murtenstrasse 31, 3008, Bern, Switzerland. inti.zlobec@pathology.unibe.ch.
  • Lawrence D True
    Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.

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