Requirements, desired characteristics and architectural proposal for a visualization framework for digital pathology

Abstract

Use of color images in medical imaging has increased significantly the last few years. One of the applications in which color plays an essential role is digital pathology. Remarkably, as of today there is no agreed standard on how color information needs to be processed and visualized for medical imaging applications such as digital pathology. This lack of standardization results into large variability of how color images are visualized and it makes consistency and quality assurance a challenge. For this reason FDA and ICC recently organized a joint summit on color in medical imaging. This paper focuses on the visualization and display side of the digital pathology imaging pipeline. Requirements and desired characteristics for visualization of digital pathology images are discussed in depth. Several technological alternative solutions and considered. And finally a proposal is made for a possible architecture for a display & visualization framework for digital pathology images. The main goal for making this architectural proposal is to facilitate discussion that could lead to standardization. Description of purposeUse of color images in medical imaging has increased significantly the last few years. One of the applications in which color plays an essential role is digital pathology. Remarkably, as of today, there is no agreed standard on how color information needs to be processed and visualized for medical imaging applications such as digital pathology. This lack of standardization results into large variability of how color images are visualized and it makes consistency and quality assurance a challenge. For this reason FDA and ICC recently organized a joint summit on color in medical imaging [1]. This paper focuses on the visualization and display side of the digital pathology imaging pipeline. Requirements and desired characteristics for visualization of digital pathology images are discussed in depth. Several technological alternative solutions and considered. And finally a proposal is made for a possible architecture for a display & visualization framework for digital pathology images. The main goal for making this architectural proposal is to facilitate a discussion that could lead to standardization. MethodsAs a first step the question will be answered whether or not there is a need for a standardized visualization framework for pathology. Aspects that will be considered are the need for consistency of presentation, the impact that standardization could have on quality and the effect that standardization can have on simplification of regulatory processes and system design.Next, characteristics of digital pathology images will be analyzed and based on these characteristics some desired properties of a standardized visualization framework will be discussed. Two existing technologies that potentially could offer these desired properties will be looked at: the DICOM GSDF calibration used for radiology applications, and the ICC profile framework often used for color critical applications.Finally, a proposal wil...