1. The digital pathology archive: the UMC Utrecht initiative
Paul van Diest, MD, PhD
Professor and Head
Department of Pathology
University Medical Center Utrecht

2. The problem I 100.000 new slides per year archive of 7.000.000 slides
total weight kg
weight increase 100 kg per year

3. The problem II slides often have to be retrieved:
clinicopathological conferences
compare with new material
teaching
research

4. The problem III slide retrieval takes time (0.5 fte)
many circulating slides
slides may get lost/misplaced
slide quality deteriorates in time
faded colors
loose cover glasses
broken

5. The solution? technically feasible to digitize all slides
store images on SAN
view slides digitally

6. Advantages of the digital archive
all slides are digitally available
instantaneously
simultaneously to multiple users
no slide retrieval from the archive
no searching for circulating slides
constant image quality
no slides get lost/damaged

7. Advantages of the digital archive
quicker preparation of CP conferences
CP can be held outside the pathology
laboratory
close colleagues can be consulted quicker
remote colleagues (at home, at conferences,
on vacation) can be consulted quicker
external consultations can be done quicker
images can be made available in EPF (ZIS, Mirador)

8. Advantages of digital “microscopy” teaching
all students view the same “best slide”
slide images can be integrated with
annotations
questions
macroscopic images
sound clips
links
etc

9. Advantages of the digital archive
more efficient CP conferences
higher speed, dynamics and flexibility of
consultation
higher quality and more dynamic teaching
but……
Can it be done?

10. The digital pathology archive: the UMC Utrecht solution
acquisition
workstation
scanning
macro imager
order form scanner
database
RVC
mirador
Sun SAN
DPS
HSM
storage
6 TB fast access
hard disk array
pathology users
clinical users
120 TB tape library

11. Digital slide demo

12. PALGA link

13. Pitfalls of the digital archive I
huge storage management
200 MB – 1 GB per slide (20x)
80 TB per year
backup
back archive
speed of image retrieval
logistics of scanning 500 slides per day
no delay in having slides scanned
flexible scanning slots
image compression

14. Pitfalls of the digital archive II
costs (vs. savings/quality improvement)

15. Scanning logistics scanners are loaded twice daily
at different moments
organize other work around this
7 hours per run
bar code recognition in scanners
extra set of slide boxes
mark slides to be scanned (double slides)
do not write on slides
install alarm system when scanner crashes

16. Future perspectives I nationwide digital archive (EPF)
quicker revision
quicker consultation
lab A
lab B
lab C
lab D
lab E
lab I
lab H
lab G
lab F
lab A
lab B
lab C
lab D
lab E
lab I
lab H
lab G
lab F
central
storage
or…

17. Future perspectives II
digital diagnostics
remote diagnostics
diagnostic networks

18. from ……..
to ……..
pathology cockpit

19. The digital pathology archive: desirable and feasible!