Scale Stain : Multi-Resolution Feature Enhancement in Pathology Visualization

Abstract

Digital whole-slide images of pathological tissue samples have recently become feasible for use within routine diagnosticpractice. These gigapixel sized images enable pathologists to perform reviews using computer workstations instead of microscopes.Existing workstations visualize scanned images by providing a zoomable image space that reproduces the capabilities of themicroscope. This paper presents a novel visualization approach that enables filtering of the scale-space according to color preference.The visualization method reveals diagnostically important patterns that are otherwise not visible. The paper demonstrates how thisapproach has been implemented into a fully functional prototype that lets the user navigate the visualization parameter space in realtime. The prototype was evaluated for two common clinical tasks with eight pathologists in a within-subjects study. The data reveal thattask efficiency increased by 15% using the prototype, with maintained accuracy. By analyzing behavioral strategies, it was possible toconclude that efficiency gain was caused by a reduction of the panning needed to perform systematic search of the images. Theprototype system was well received by the pathologists who did not detect any risks that would hinder use in clinical routine