在日本扩展数字病理学的应用——从教育、远程病理学到自动诊断。

Louis Pasteur Centre for Medical Research in Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan.

Diagn Pathol. 2011 Mar 30;6 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S19. doi: 10.1186/1746-1596-6-S1-S19.

BACKGROUND

Digital pathology, i.e., applications of digital information technologies to pathology practice, has been expanding in the recent decades and the mode of pathology diagnostic practice is changing with enhanced precision. In the present study the changing processes of digital pathology in Japan were investigated and trends to future were discussed.

METHODS

The changing status of digital pathology was investigated through reviewing the records of annual meetings of the Japanese Research Society of Telepathology and Pathology Informatics (JRST-PI) and of the Japanese pathology related medical and informatics journals. The results of the Japanese questionnaire survey conducted in 2008-2009 on telepathology and virtual slide were also reviewed. In addition effectiveness of an experimental automatic pathology diagnostic aid system using computer artificial intelligence was investigated by checking its rate of correct diagnosis for given prostate carcinoma digital images.

RESULTS

Telepathology played a central role in the development of digital pathology in Japan. Both macroscopic and microscopic pathology digital images were routinely generated and used for diagnostic purposes in major hospitals. Virtual slide (VS) digital images were used first for education then for conference, consultation and also gradually for routine diagnosis and telepathology. The experimental automatic diagnostic aid system achieved the rate of correct diagnosis around 95% for prostate carcinoma and its use for automatic mapping of cancerous areas in a given tissue image was successful.

CONCLUSIONS

Advance in the digital information technologies gave revolutionary impacts on pathology education, conference, consultation, diagnosis, telepathology and also on pathology diagnostic procedures in Japan. The future will be bright for pathologists by the advanced digital pathology but we should pay attention to make the technologies and their effects under our control.

背景

数字病理学，即将数字信息技术应用于病理学实践，近几十年来一直在发展，病理学诊断实践的模式也在随着精度的提高而发生变化。本研究调查了日本数字病理学的变化过程，并探讨了未来的趋势。

方法

通过回顾日本远程病理学与病理学信息学研究学会（JRST-PI）年会记录和日本与病理学相关的医学和信息学期刊，调查数字病理学的变化状况。还回顾了 2008-2009 年在远程病理学和虚拟切片方面进行的日本问卷调查的结果。此外，还通过检查计算机人工智能在给定前列腺癌数字图像中的正确诊断率，研究了一种实验性自动病理诊断辅助系统的效果。

结果

远程病理学在日本数字病理学的发展中发挥了核心作用。在主要医院中，宏观和微观病理学数字图像均常规生成并用于诊断目的。虚拟切片（VS）数字图像首先用于教育，然后用于会议、咨询，也逐渐用于常规诊断和远程病理学。实验性自动诊断辅助系统对前列腺癌的正确诊断率达到 95%左右，成功地对给定组织图像中的癌区进行了自动映射。