Peer Review: Real-Time Telepathology Is Substantially Equivalent to In-Person Intraoperative Frozen Section Diagnosis

Pathologists at the University of Nebraska and Henry Ford Health System assessed the efficiency and accuracy of live telemicroscopy compared with in-person intraoperative frozen section diagnosis. They performed this study using Mikroscan's SL5 Dual-Mode Telemicroscopy and Digital Pathology system, the results of which are published in the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine¹.

In the article, titled "Real-Time Telepathology Is Substantially Equivalent to In-Person Intraoperative Frozen Section Diagnosis," the researchers cited turnaround time, concordance rates, and comfort with using the telemicroscopy system as justification for the "continued use and expansion of telemicroscopic services in primary intraoperative diagnoses."

Other benefits of telemicroscopy cited in the article include:

Ease and Simplicity of Set-Up

• "Beyond the instrument itself and a standard frozen section setup, the only physical needs are a computer on the receiving end to host the software and a high-speed Internet connection."
  

Low Cost

• "The low cost of servers, storage, and random-access memory, which is obligatory for scanned slide analysis, is not required with this telemicroscopic system."

Improved Subspecialty Consultation

• The ability to eliminate the geographic requirements for slide-based consultation "can avoid the significant delay with sending slides to a referral center" and "expands the time frame and locations of intraoperative consultations" that can be offered.

To read the full article, published March 15, 2023, visit https://doi.org/10.5858/arpa.2022-0261-OA.

¹Rohr, Joseph, MD, PhD; Ginnegaugh, Kevin, MD; Tuthill, Mark, MD; Pimentel, Jason, MD; Markin, Rodney, MD, PhD.  (March 15, 2023). Real-Time Telepathology Is Substantially Equivalent to In-Person Intraoperative Frozen Section Diagnosis. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5858/arpa.2022-0261-OA