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Frei AL, Oberson R, Baumann E, Perren A, Grobholz R, Lugli A, Dawson H, Abbet C, Lertxundi I, Reinhard S, Mookhoek A, Feichtinger J, Sarro R, Gadient G, Dommann-Scherrer C, Barizzi J, Berezowska S, Glatz K, Dertinger S, Banz Y, Schoenegg R, Rubbia-Brandt L, Fleischmann A, Saile G, Mainil-Varlet P, Biral R, Giudici L, Soltermann A, Chaubert AB, Stadlmann S, Diebold J, Egervari K, Bénière C, Saro F, Janowczyk A, Zlobec I. Pathologist Computer-Aided Diagnostic Scoring of Tumor Cell Fraction: A Swiss National Study. Mod Pathol 2023; 36:100335. [PMID: 37742926 DOI: 10.1016/j.modpat.2023.100335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Revised: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 09/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
Tumor cell fraction (TCF) estimation is a common clinical task with well-established large interobserver variability. It thus provides an ideal test bed to evaluate potential impacts of employing a tumor cell fraction computer-aided diagnostic (TCFCAD) tool to support pathologists' evaluation. During a National Slide Seminar event, pathologists (n = 69) were asked to visually estimate TCF in 10 regions of interest (ROIs) from hematoxylin and eosin colorectal cancer images intentionally curated for diverse tissue compositions, cellularity, and stain intensities. Next, they re-evaluated the same ROIs while being provided a TCFCAD-created overlay highlighting predicted tumor vs nontumor cells, together with the corresponding TCF percentage. Participants also reported confidence levels in their assessments using a 5-tier scale, indicating no confidence to high confidence, respectively. The TCF ground truth (GT) was defined by manual cell-counting by experts. When assisted, interobserver variability significantly decreased, showing estimates converging to the GT. This improvement remained even when TCFCAD predictions deviated slightly from the GT. The standard deviation (SD) of the estimated TCF to the GT across ROIs was 9.9% vs 5.8% with TCFCAD (P < .0001). The intraclass correlation coefficient increased from 0.8 to 0.93 (95% CI, 0.65-0.93 vs 0.86-0.98), and pathologists stated feeling more confident when aided (3.67 ± 0.81 vs 4.17 ± 0.82 with the computer-aided diagnostic [CAD] tool). TCFCAD estimation support demonstrated improved scoring accuracy, interpathologist agreement, and scoring confidence. Interestingly, pathologists also expressed more willingness to use such a CAD tool at the end of the survey, highlighting the importance of training/education to increase adoption of CAD systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Leni Frei
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
| | - Raphaël Oberson
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Elias Baumann
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Aurel Perren
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Rainer Grobholz
- Medical Faculty University of Zurich, Institute of Pathology, Cantonal Hospital Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland
| | - Alessandro Lugli
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Heather Dawson
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Christian Abbet
- Signal Processing Laboratory 5, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Ibai Lertxundi
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Stefan Reinhard
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Aart Mookhoek
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | | | - Rossella Sarro
- Istituto Cantonale di Patologia, Ente ospedaliero cantonale (EOC), Locarno, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Jessica Barizzi
- Istituto Cantonale di Patologia, Ente ospedaliero cantonale (EOC), Locarno, Switzerland
| | - Sabina Berezowska
- Institute of Pathology, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Katharina Glatz
- Institut of Pathology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Susanne Dertinger
- Institute of Pathology, Landeskrankenhaus Feldkirch, Feldkirch, Austria
| | - Yara Banz
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Rene Schoenegg
- Institute of Pathology, Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
| | - Laura Rubbia-Brandt
- Department of Pathology and Immunology, Geneva University Hospital, Genève, Switzerland
| | - Achim Fleischmann
- Institute of Pathology, Cantonal Hospital Thurgau, Münsterlingen, Switzerland
| | | | | | | | - Luca Giudici
- Istituto Cantonale di Patologia, Ente ospedaliero cantonale (EOC), Locarno, Switzerland
| | | | - Audrey Baur Chaubert
- FMH Pathology, Pathology Department of SYNLAB Switzerland SA, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sylvia Stadlmann
- Institute of Pathology, Cantonal Hospital Baden, Baden, Switzerland
| | - Joachim Diebold
- Institute of Pathology, Cantonal Hospital Luzern, Luzern, Switzerland
| | - Kristof Egervari
- Department of Pathology and Immunology, Geneva University Hospital, Genève, Switzerland
| | | | - Francesca Saro
- Institute of Pathology and Molecular Pathology, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Andrew Janowczyk
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; Department of Oncology, Division of Precision Oncology, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Clinical Pathology, Division of Clinical Pathology, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Inti Zlobec
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
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Grobholz R, Janowczyk A, Frei AL, Kreutzfeldt M, Koelzer VH, Zlobec I. National digital pathology projects in Switzerland: A 2023 update. Pathologie (Heidelb) 2023; 44:225-228. [PMID: 37987815 PMCID: PMC10739407 DOI: 10.1007/s00292-023-01259-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
The Swiss Digital Pathology Consortium (SDiPath) was founded in 2018 as a working group of the Swiss Society for Pathology with the aim of networking, training, and promoting digital pathology (DP) at a national level. Since then, two national surveys have been carried out on the level of knowledge, dissemination, use, and needs in DP, which have resulted in clear fields of action. In addition to organizing symposia and workshops, national guidelines were drawn up and an initiative for a national DP platform actively codesigned. With the growing use of digital image processing and artificial intelligence tools, continuous monitoring, evaluation, and exchange of experiences will be pursued, along with best practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rainer Grobholz
- Medical Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Institute of Pathology, Kantonsspital Aarau, Tellstr. 25, 5001, Aarau, Switzerland.
| | - Andrew Janowczyk
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Department of Oncology, Division of Precision Oncology, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Diagnostics, Division of Clinical Pathology, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Ana Leni Frei
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Mario Kreutzfeldt
- Department of Pathology and Immunology, Division of Clinical Pathology, University & University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Viktor H Koelzer
- Department of Pathology und Molecular Pathology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Inti Zlobec
- Institute for Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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