Ferreira Diana, Vale João, Curado Mónica, Polónia António, Eloy Catarina
Laboratory of Pathology, Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of University of Porto (Ipatimup), Porto, Portugal.
Instituto de Investigação e Inovação Em Saúde (i3S), Porto, Portugal.
J Pathol Inform. 2022 May 23;13:100098. doi: 10.1016/j.jpi.2022.100098. eCollection 2022.
Digital pathology workflow aims to create whole slide images (WSIs) for diagnosis. The quality of the WSIs depends primarily on the quality of the glass slides produced by the pathology laboratory, where the coverslipping method plays an important role. In this study we compare the glass, the film, and the liquid coverslipping methods to evaluate which ones are suitable to create WSIs for diagnosis. The study included 18 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks. Of each block, 3 consecutive sections were covered using 1 of the 3 methods. The slides were scanned and evaluated for quality criteria by 2 pathologists experienced in digital pathology. The coverslipping method interferes with the quality of the WSIs, as well as with the scanning time and the file size of the WSIs. All coverslipping methods were found suitable for diagnosis. The glass and liquid methods were manual and had similar results concerning the presence of air bubbles/polymer accumulation, air drying artefacts, tissue exposed, and staining alterations. The glass method was the one with more air bubbles. The liquid method was associated with more alterations on the WSIs, but with the lowest file sizes. Automation of coverslipping and calibration of the scanner for the coverslipping method chosen by the pathology laboratory are relevant for the final quality of the WSIs.
数字病理学工作流程旨在创建用于诊断的全切片图像（WSIs）。WSIs的质量主要取决于病理实验室制作的载玻片的质量，其中封片方法起着重要作用。在本研究中，我们比较了玻璃封片、薄膜封片和液体封片方法，以评估哪些方法适合创建用于诊断的WSIs。该研究包括18个福尔马林固定石蜡包埋组织块。每个组织块的连续3个切片分别采用3种方法中的1种进行封片。由2位数字病理学经验丰富的病理学家对切片进行扫描并根据质量标准进行评估。封片方法会影响WSIs的质量，以及扫描时间和WSIs的文件大小。所有封片方法均被认为适合诊断。玻璃封片和液体封片方法是手动操作，在气泡/聚合物积聚、空气干燥伪影、组织暴露和染色改变方面结果相似。玻璃封片方法产生的气泡较多。液体封片方法导致WSIs出现更多改变，但文件大小最小。封片的自动化以及针对病理实验室选择的封片方法对扫描仪进行校准，对WSIs的最终质量至关重要。
