Technical and Diagnostic Issues in Whole Slide Imaging Published Validation Studies

Objective: Digital pathology with whole-slide imaging (WSI) has many potential clinical and non-clinical applications. In the past two decades, despite significant advances in WSI technology adoption remains slow for primary diagnosis. The aim of this study was to identify common pitfalls of WSI reported in validation studies and offer measures to overcome these challenges.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted in the electronic databases Pubmed-MEDLINE and Embase. Inclusion criteria were all validation studies designed to evaluate the feasibility of WSI for diagnostic clinical use in pathology. Technical and diagnostic problems encountered with WSI in these studies were recorded.

Results: A total of 45 studies were identified in which technical issues were reported in 15 (33%), diagnostic issues in 8 (18%), and 22 (49%) reported both. Key technical problems encompassed slide scan failure, prolonged time for pathologists to review cases, and a need for higher image resolution. Diagnostic challenges encountered were concerned with grading dysplasia, reliable assessment of mitoses, identification of microorganisms, and clearly defining the invasive front of tumors.

Conclusion: Despite technical advances with WSI technology, some critical concerns remain that need to be addressed to ensure trustworthy clinical diagnostic use. More focus on the quality of the pre-scanning phase and training of pathologists could help reduce the negative impact of WSI technical difficulties. WSI also seems to exacerbate specific diagnostic tasks that are already challenging among pathologists even when examining glass slides with conventional light microscopy.