Lundin Mikael, Szymas Janusz, Linder Ewert, Beck Hans, de Wilde Peter, van Krieken Han, García Rojo Marcial, Moreno Ignacio, Ariza Aurelio, Tuzlali Sitki, Dervişoğlu Sergülen, Helin Heikki, Lehto Veli-Pekka, Lundin Johan
Department of Oncology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Virchows Arch. 2009 Apr;454(4):421-9. doi: 10.1007/s00428-009-0749-3. Epub 2009 Mar 12.
Web-based virtual microscopy has enabled new applications within pathology. Here, we introduce and evaluate a network of academic servers, designed to maximize image accessibility to users from all regions of Europe. Whole-slide imaging was utilized to digitize the entire slide set (n = 154) for the slide seminars of the 21st European Congress of Pathology. The virtual slides were mirrored to five academic servers across Europe using a novel propagation method. Functionality was implemented that automatically selects the fastest server connection in order to optimize the slide-viewing speed ( http://www.webmicroscope.net/ECP2007). Results show that during 6 months of monitoring the uptime of the network was 100%. The average viewing speed with the network was 3.1 Mbit/s, as compared to 1.9 Mbit/s using single servers. A good viewing speed (>2Mbit/s) was observed in 32 of 37 countries (86%), compared to 25 of 37 (68%) using single servers. Our study shows that implementing a virtual microscopy network spanning a large geographical area is technically feasible. By utilizing existing academic networks and cost-minimizing image compression, it is also economically feasible.
基于网络的虚拟显微镜技术在病理学领域开启了新的应用。在此，我们介绍并评估一个学术服务器网络，其旨在最大限度地提高欧洲各地用户对图像的访问权限。利用全切片成像技术对第21届欧洲病理学大会的幻灯片研讨会的整套幻灯片（n = 154）进行数字化处理。使用一种新颖的传播方法将虚拟幻灯片镜像到欧洲各地的五个学术服务器上。实现了自动选择最快服务器连接的功能，以优化幻灯片查看速度（http://www.webmicroscope.net/ECP2007）。结果显示，在为期6个月的监测期内，该网络的正常运行时间为100%。使用该网络时的平均查看速度为3.1 Mbit/s，而使用单个服务器时为1.9 Mbit/s。在37个国家中的32个国家（86%）观察到良好的查看速度（>2Mbit/s），相比之下，使用单个服务器时在37个国家中的25个国家（68%）观察到良好的查看速度。我们的研究表明，构建一个覆盖大面积地理区域的虚拟显微镜网络在技术上是可行的。通过利用现有的学术网络并最大限度降低图像压缩成本，在经济上也是可行的。
