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Guideline
. 2021 Nov 22;11(11):2167.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11112167.

Best Practice Recommendations for the Implementation of a Digital Pathology Workflow in the Anatomic Pathology Laboratory by the European Society of Digital and Integrative Pathology (ESDIP)

Filippo Fraggetta  1   2 , Vincenzo L'Imperio  1   3 , David Ameisen  1   4 , Rita Carvalho  1   5 , Sabine Leh  1   6   7 , Tim-Rasmus Kiehl  1   5 , Mircea Serbanescu  1   8 , Daniel Racoceanu  1   9 , Vincenzo Della Mea  1   10 , Antonio Polonia  1   11   12 , Norman Zerbe  1   5 , Catarina Eloy  1   11   12
Affiliations
Guideline

Best Practice Recommendations for the Implementation of a Digital Pathology Workflow in the Anatomic Pathology Laboratory by the European Society of Digital and Integrative Pathology (ESDIP)

Filippo Fraggetta et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

The interest in implementing digital pathology (DP) workflows to obtain whole slide image (WSI) files for diagnostic purposes has increased in the last few years. The increasing performance of technical components and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of systems for primary diagnosis led to increased interest in applying DP workflows. However, despite this revolutionary transition, real world data suggest that a fully digital approach to the histological workflow has been implemented in only a minority of pathology laboratories. The objective of this study is to facilitate the implementation of DP workflows in pathology laboratories, helping those involved in this process of transformation to identify: (a) the scope and the boundaries of the DP transformation; (b) how to introduce automation to reduce errors; (c) how to introduce appropriate quality control to guarantee the safety of the process and (d) the hardware and software needed to implement DP systems inside the pathology laboratory. The European Society of Digital and Integrative Pathology (ESDIP) provided consensus-based recommendations developed through discussion among members of the Scientific Committee. The recommendations are thus based on the expertise of the panel members and on the agreement obtained after virtual meetings. Prior to publication, the recommendations were reviewed by members of the ESDIP Board. The recommendations comprehensively cover every step of the implementation of the digital workflow in the anatomic pathology department, emphasizing the importance of interoperability, automation and tracking of the entire process before the introduction of a scanning facility. Compared to the available national and international guidelines, the present document represents a practical, handy reference for the correct implementation of the digital workflow in Europe.

Keywords: anatomic pathology workflow; digital pathology; laboratory information system; whole slide imaging.

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Conflict of interest statement

Filippo Fraggetta holds a US Patent App. 16/688,613, 2020 Sample imaging and imagery archiving for imagery comparison. David Ameisen is a partner at imginIT, SAS.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Differences among analog and the digital workflows. Credit: created with BioRender.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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