Digital diagnostic cytopathology: Has the pandemic brought us closer?

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic has acted as a powerful change driver in the field of pathology and has had relevant consequences on the practice of cytopathology, in terms of changes in workload, rates of malignancy, and the performance of cytology. At the same time, regulatory authorities have relaxed their requirements for the deployment of digital pathology for remote diagnostic reporting. However, most of these improvements have concerned digital histopathology. Data from a literature search show that experiences in digital cytopathology during the pandemic have concerned mainly educational and academic activities. From a broader point of view, when searching for all published literature on digital pathology, only a minority of papers deal with cytopathology, but a noticeable increase in publications has been seen in the last 10 years, with an upward trend toward a maximum of papers in 2021. Indeed, the pandemic has led to greater awareness of the possibility of digital for cytopathology as well.

Rapid Remote Online Evaluation in Endoscopic Diagnostics: An Analysis of Biopsy-Proven Respiratory Cytopathology

“…Based on these rapid remote online evaluation findings, relevant diagnostic and therapeutic decisions can be derived in a timely manner. A quality-assured rapid remote online evaluation process enables an assessment of the quantitative and qualitative suitability of obtained cellular samples for further required standard and immunocytochemical analyses, as well as necessary molecular pathological examinations [8,18,21]. An interdisciplinary understanding of the clinical problem and the morphological facts reduces friction among disciplines and is an essential prerequisite for customised diagnostics.…”

“…a rule, ROSEs are cost-intensive and rely on the on-site availability of personnel and equ ment [1,8,[15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…Typically, rapid cytology examinations are performed as rapid on-site evaluations (ROSEs) [8,[12][13][14]. As a rule, ROSEs are cost-intensive and rely on the on-site availability of personnel and equipment [1,8,[15][16][17][18][19][20].…”