Department of Histopathology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Transpl Int. 2014 Aug;27(8):759-64. doi: 10.1111/tri.12320. Epub 2014 Apr 12.
Improvements in digital slide scanners have reached a stage that digital whole slide images (WSIs) can be used for diagnostic purposes. A digital system for histopathology, analogous to the systems used in radiology, would allow the establishment of networks of subspecialist histopathologists to provide a regional, national or even international rota to support out of hours histopathology for emergency frozen sections, urgent paraffin sections and to generally improve efficiencies with the provision of histopathology services. Such a system would promote appropriate organ utilization by allowing rapid characterization of unexpected lesions in the donor to determine whether donation should occur and further characterization of the organ, such as the degree of fibrosis in the kidney or steatosis in the liver, to determine whether the organ should be used. If introduced across Europe, this would promote safe and effective exchange of organs and support a cost efficient use of pathologist expertise. This review article outlines current issues with the provision of an urgent out of hours histopathology service and focuses on how such a service has the potential to increase organ donors, improve allocation, sharing and the use of available donor organs.
数字切片扫描仪的改进已经达到了可以将数字全玻片图像（WSI）用于诊断目的的阶段。类似于放射科使用的系统，用于组织病理学的数字系统将允许建立专科病理学家网络，以提供区域、国家甚至国际的轮班制度，以支持紧急冷冻切片、紧急石蜡切片的非工作时间组织病理学，并通过提供组织病理学服务来提高效率。这样的系统将通过允许快速描述供体中意外病变来促进适当的器官利用，以确定是否应该进行捐赠，并进一步描述器官，例如肾脏的纤维化程度或肝脏的脂肪变性程度，以确定是否应该使用该器官。如果在整个欧洲推出，这将促进安全有效的器官交换，并支持病理学家专业知识的成本效益利用。本文概述了提供紧急非工作时间组织病理学服务的当前问题，并重点介绍了该服务如何有可能增加器官捐献者、改善器官分配、共享和利用现有捐献器官。
