Whole slide imaging (WSI) involves scanning glass slides to produce digital slides for diagnostic, educational, and research purposes. While successful in some niche applications, wider adoption requires full integration with the laboratory information system, continuous automated scanning, high-bandwidth connectivity, massive storage capacity, and intuitive user interfaces. Regulatory and validation requirements related to WSI have yet to be adequately addressed, and there are currently no standard guidelines for validating WSI for diagnostic use in the clinical laboratory. This review addresses the current status of WSI in pathology, including its regulatory and validation issues, provision of remote and routine diagnoses, educational uses, implementation challenges, and cost-benefit analysis.
This article was authored by Liron Pantanowitz, Paul N Valenstein, Andrew J Evans ,and others.