Shahin Bepari Lambe
Panaji
Pathology, long dependent on glass slides and microscopes, is undergoing a major transformation as artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies begin to redefine how pathologists work, collaborate and deliver patient care, said Dr Rafael E Jimenez, professor at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science based in Rochester, Minnesota, United States.
He was speaking at an international conference in pathology—histopathology and cytopathology—on Friday at Miramar.
Dr Jimenez said digital pathology involves converting traditional glass slides into high-resolution digital images that can be analysed, shared and
stored electronically.
“Laboratories, for the most part, prepare tissue on glass slides and transform those into digital images through a high-resolution scanning process,” he said. “By transforming this information that is imprisoned in a glass slide, we are able to analyse the data in ways that are simply not possible with traditional
analytic methods.”
He said AI is already being used in hematology analysers, histopathology, cytopathology, prostate biopsies, lung cancer, breast cancer, lymph node metastasis, and urine and fluid examinations, with research ongoing in the USA, Germany, Japan and China. However, he said AI tools must be validated and approved before routine clinical use.
Dr Jimenez said digital reporting has reduced turnaround time for some biopsies by two to three hours. “If we don’t have digital data, we cannot create artificial intelligence solutions,” he said, adding that AI can assist in screening slides, identifying cancer, grading tumours and reducing repetitive work. “A lot of what we do is repetitive, tedious and time-consuming. AI can help screen slides, prioritise cases and reduce variability,” he said.
He explained that the first step towards using AI in pathology is digital pathology, where glass slides are converted into high-resolution images. Once digitised, pathologists can view slides on computer screens, zoom in and out, annotate findings, measure tumours and compare different stains. “I basically obtain the same information that I can from my microscope, but now I can annotate, measure and combine H&E slides with special or immunochemical stains digitally,” he said.
The CME was chaired by Dr R G Wiseman Pinto, Professor of Pathology and former head of the Pathology Department at Goa Medical College and former Dean of Goa University.
He said AI would improve diagnostic accuracy, shorten reporting time, guide personalised treatment and support preventive medicine. While AI would not replace pathologists, he said they must learn to work
with AI to remain relevant in the future.
