dotSlide in Pathology |
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 Archiving rare and valuable
biological sections
Sharing specimen via the web for
discussion, presentation or
teleconferencing
Building online databases for
students education
Setting up application-oriented
reference databases |
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dotSlide in Pathology
With the increasing demand for networking in hospitals and collaborations comes the need for the correct tools. The new dotSlide concept from Olympus has introduced a unique high-speed, whole-slide scanning system, producing digital slide images at high-end microscope quality for pathology. Now, the user can work more flexibly and efficiently to evaluate slides, diagnose and consult colleagues for second opinions, at separate times and in different locations.
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 Virtual Slide - real diagnosis
High capacity and automatic throughput
Storage and preservation
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Virtual Slide - real diagnosis
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Virtual slide – real diagnosis
Taking an exact copy of an entire slide using the dotSlide system increases the flexibility of case analysis. This unique ability is due to the careful combination of precision optical components, high-quality scanning stage and camera with advanced application software. |
| Step 1: Biopsy |
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Step 2: Sample Preparation |
The whole picture
The careful integration of all the components creates a highly flexible system that enables the user to acquire digital slides for diagnosis quickly and effortlessly. The acquisition process starts with generating an overview image of the entire slide. It includes the automatic detection of the specimen to avoid time-consuming scanning of areas where there is no sample on the slide. As a second step, the high-magnification scan is automatically performed, over the whole slide or over smaller, predefined areas of interest using the preselected objective. During the acquisition, thousands of individual images are simultaneously compressed without any loss in quality and stitched together to create a seamless, magnified version of the slide. As a result, this is carried out within minutes, even using high-magnification objectives. |
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Step 3: Sample digitalisation |
Worldwide access
The virtual slide image is stored with all the relevant information in such a way that it enables instant, controlled, access from anywhere in the world. This makes it an excellent tool for remote diagnosis (telediagnostics), second-opinion consultations, group discussions and intra-operative diagnosis of frozen sections. The system provides each user with an easy-to-use on-screen control interface, allowing free navigation within the sample. Moreover, the users can control multiple virtual slides and/or other image file formats simultaneously for easy comparison. In this way, they can access virtual slides from wherever they are and therefore do not need to be in their office or even their home country to screen a slide. |
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Step 4: Evaluation and teleconsultation |
Meeting room
More importantly, as well as giving individual access to the virtual slides, the system also enables collaboration around the globe via the access-controlled conferencing tool. This allows users to be assigned different roles such as moderator, speaker or client. Therefore, second opinions can be requested or difficult case discussions can happen immediately and in real time, with the added benefit of annotation, highlighting and minute taking – a truly revolutionary tool ensuring a new level of efficiency. |
High capacity and automatic throughput
dotSlide system with
slideloader |
Automatic slide scanning
Many diagnostic, teaching and clinical trials laboratories are faced with a growing number of samples to process and it is therefore more efficient to scan slides in batches and review them later. The Olympus dotSlide system can be fitted with a slide loader, which holds up to 50 slides and is integrated with a bar code reader, giving full traceability and hands-off scanning. This ability also makes it quick and easy to archive slides, producing permanent records. |
Storage and preservation
Access and security
When handling a large number of virtual slides, high-quality, secure and rapid access data storage is an important consideration. Olympus has therefore worked with leading electronic storage providers to establish local, regional and international data access and storage network capabilities. With patients’ samples, privacy is paramount and the system has therefore integrated security settings giving controlled access to the slide image and related data. |
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The old and the new
A clear advantage of electronic storage is that slides can be found and loaded quickly and easily, enabling users to quickly reopen a slide for further investigation, access slides for reference purposes, or prepare presentations for conferences and lectures. Furthermore, there is no degradation to the sample over time – the slide image will always be as crisp and clear as the day it was recorded. This is especially advantageous when archiving old or rare samples, which can then be made available for everyone as if they had been copied. |
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