Swiss digital pathology recommendations: results from a Delphi process conducted by the Swiss Digital Pathology Consortium of the Swiss Society of Pathology
Andrew Janowczyk, Inti Zlobec, C.F. Walker, Sabina Berezowska, Viola Huschauer, Marianne Tinguely, Joel Kupferschmid, Thomas Mallet, Doron Merkler, Mario Kreutzfeldt, Radivoje Gasic, Tilman T. Rau, Luca Mazzucchelli, Isgard Eyberg, Gieri Cathomas, Kirsten D. Mertz, Viktor H. Koelzer, Davide Soldini, Wolfram Jochum, Matthias Rössle, Maurice Henkel, Rainer Grobholz
Abstract
Integration of digital pathology (DP) into clinical diagnostic workflows is increasingly receiving attention as new hardware and software become available. To facilitate the adoption of DP, the Swiss Digital Pathology Consortium (SDiPath) organized a Delphi process to produce a series of recommendations for DP integration within Swiss clinical environments. This process saw the creation of 4 working groups, focusing on the various components of a DP system (1) scanners, quality assurance and validation of scans, (2) integration of Whole Slide Image (WSI)-scanners and DP systems into the Pathology Laboratory Information System, (3) digital workflow-compliance with general quality guidelines, and (4) image analysis (IA)/artificial intelligence (AI), with topic experts for each recruited for discussion and statement generation. The work product of the Delphi process is 83 consensus statements presented here, forming the basis for "SDiPath Recommendations for Digital Pathology". They represent an up-to-date resource for national and international hospitals, researchers, device manufacturers, algorithm developers, and all supporting fields, with the intent of providing expectations and best practices to help ensure safe and efficient DP usage.