Lee Szu-Hee
Division of Haematology, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide, Australia.
Lab Hematol. 2005;11(1):38-45. doi: 10.1532/LH96.04059.
Virtual microscopy is the simulation of microscopy over a computer network. A virtual slide is a giant digital image file of a glass slide that can be displayed, panned, zoomed, and focused in a virtual slide viewer on a computer screen. Virtual slides represent a revolutionary advance over glass slides. They are easy to file, store, retrieve, annotate, and mark and can be preserved indefinitely. Furthermore, they are easy to duplicate and distribute and can be integrated into electronic patient records. Large virtual slides can be readily transmitted to users over a standard broadband connection. With the recent introduction of viewers that can focus virtual slides, virtual microscopy can simulate all the functions of real microscopy. Virtual microscopy has significant advantages over real microscopy in education and in proficiency testing. In education, virtual microscopy enables "anytime, anywhere" learning and has been favorably received by students and teachers. In proficiency surveys, all users view the same image, virtual slides are easy to distribute, and the slides do not deteriorate. Potential applications for hematology proficiency surveys include blood and bone marrow morphology, differential cell counts, cytochemistry and immunocytochemistry, detection of malarial parasites, and other tests. Virtual microscopy enables proficiency surveys of critical clinical parameters, such as the bone marrow blast count, and implementation of "locate and identify" exercises. It is conceivable that with the next generation of technological developments, virtual microscopy can be extended to diagnostic applications. Important goals are to minimize slide file size without loss of relevant detail, to establish diagnostic equivalence, and to automate virtual slide capture with high throughput for integration into laboratory information systems. Key factors that will drive implementation include user-friendliness, cost, data storage requirements, and throughput speed. Implementation may have constructive effects on teaching and learning, the peer-to-peer consultative process, and diagnostic accuracy and performance.
虚拟显微镜检查是通过计算机网络对显微镜检查进行模拟。虚拟载玻片是玻璃载玻片的巨大数字图像文件，可在计算机屏幕上的虚拟载玻片查看器中进行显示、平移、缩放和聚焦。虚拟载玻片代表了相对于玻璃载玻片的革命性进步。它们易于存档、存储、检索、注释和标记，并且可以无限期保存。此外，它们易于复制和分发，并且可以集成到电子病历中。大型虚拟载玻片可以通过标准宽带连接轻松传输给用户。随着最近能够聚焦虚拟载玻片的查看器的推出，虚拟显微镜检查可以模拟真实显微镜检查的所有功能。在教育和能力测试方面，虚拟显微镜检查相对于真实显微镜检查具有显著优势。在教育中，虚拟显微镜检查实现了“随时随地”学习，并受到了学生和教师的好评。在能力测试中，所有用户查看相同的图像，虚拟载玻片易于分发，并且载玻片不会变质。血液学能力测试的潜在应用包括血液和骨髓形态学、细胞分类计数、细胞化学和免疫细胞化学、疟原虫检测以及其他测试。虚拟显微镜检查能够对关键临床参数进行能力测试，例如骨髓原始细胞计数，并实施“定位和识别”练习。可以想象，随着下一代技术的发展，虚拟显微镜检查可以扩展到诊断应用。重要目标是在不损失相关细节的情况下最小化载玻片文件大小、建立诊断等效性以及通过高通量自动进行虚拟载玻片捕获以集成到实验室信息系统中。推动实施的关键因素包括用户友好性、成本、数据存储要求和通量速度。实施可能会对教学、对等咨询过程以及诊断准确性和性能产生建设性影响。
