David J Romer | PubMed Health

PubMed2003

Using a modified standard microscope to generate virtual slides.

A standard microscope was reconfigured as a virtual slide generator by adding a Prior Scientific H101 robotic stage with H29 controller and 0.1 microm linear scales and a Hitachi HV-C20 3CCD camera. Media Cybernetics Image Pro Plus version 4 (IP4) software controlled stage movement in the X-, Y-, and Z-axis, whereas a Media Cybernetics Pro-Series Capture Kit captured images at 640 x 480 pixels. Stage calibration, scanning algorithms, storage requirements, and viewing modes were standardized. IP4 was used to montage the captured images into a large virtual slide image that was subsequently saved in TIF or JPEG format. Virtual slides were viewed at the workstation using the IP4 viewer as well as Adobe Photoshop and Kodak Imaging. MGI Zoom Server delivered the virtual slides to the Internet, and MicroBrightField's Neuroinformatica viewing software provided a browser-based virtual microscope interface together with labeling tools for annotating virtual slides. The images were served from a Windows 2000 platform with 2 GB RAM, 500 GB of disk storage, and a 1.0 GHz P4 processor. To conserve disk space on the image server, TIF files were converted to the FlashPix (FPX) file format using a compression ratio of 10:1. By using 4x, 10x, 20x, and 40x objectives, very large gigapixel images of tissue whole-mounts and tissue arrays with high quality and morphologic detail are now being generated for teaching, publication, research, and morphometric analysis. Technical details and a demonstration of our system can be found on the Web at http://virtualmicroscope.osu.edu.

Anatomy, Cross-Sectional↗

PubMed2003

Use of virtual microscopy for didactic live-audience presentation in anatomic pathology.

Didactic presentations on the topic of anatomic pathology in front of a live audience have been largely dependent on the use of standard 2 x 2 inch projection slides (Kodachromes) of selected still images from the topic at hand. Because of the highly visual nature of the specialty of anatomic pathology, this method has had some serious limitations. With the advent of digital imaging techniques and the availability of new electronic software for the projection of images, new possibilities have become available for didactic presentations in anatomic pathology in front of a large, live audience. We describe a method whereby large digital images or "virtual slides" were produced from digitally scanned whole-mount sections of histologic glass slides and projected using a combination of PowerPoint (Microsoft Corp, Redmond, WA) and virtual microscopy in front of a live audience. To provide a seamless transition between the two presentation formats, the personal computer-based PowerPoint slides were hyperlinked to a browser-based virtual microscope viewer. The presenter, with the use of a mouse, was able to "move" the image of the scanned slide on the screen, to transition seamlessly among various magnifications, and to rapidly select from the whole-mount scanned slide among any areas of interest pertinent to the topic. Thus, the visual experience obtained by the audience simulated that of viewing a glass slide at a multi-headed microscope during a glass slide tutorial. Because this most closely approximates the experience of reviewing glass slides under the microscope for practicing pathologists, the educational experience of the presentation is greatly enhanced by the use of this technique. Also, this method permits making this type of presentation available to a much larger group of individuals in a live audience.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗