Digital Pathology & Whole-Slide Imaging Clinical Guide
What WSI provides
Whole-slide imaging converts a glass slide into a navigable high-resolution digital image for review, consultation, education, quality assurance and selected diagnostic workflows.
Whole-slide imaging in clinical practice
Validation before primary diagnosis
A laboratory should validate a WSI system for its intended diagnostic use and demonstrate acceptable concordance with conventional microscopy before routine primary diagnosis.
Pre-analytic quality
Digital image quality depends on tissue processing, section thickness, staining, coverslipping, slide cleanliness, scanner focus and image acquisition settings.
Clinical applications
Applications include remote consultation, multidisciplinary meetings, teaching, archiving, image analysis, research, second opinions and, after appropriate validation, primary diagnostic use.
Known challenges
Very thick tissue, weak staining, cytology, focal planes, small microorganisms, polarizable material and some special applications may require additional validation, z-stacking or conventional microscopy.
Governance
Document scanner performance, monitor/workstation suitability, user competency, case identity, image storage, cybersecurity, downtime procedures and quality assurance.
Clinical use note: This resource supports professional decision making but does not replace current specialty guidelines, multidisciplinary review, the validated scope of the exact laboratory assay, or patient-specific clinical judgement.
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