title: Increasing specimen coverage using digital whole-mount breast pathology: implementation, clinical feasibility and application in research.
abstract: Conventional histopathological evaluation is performed on breast specimens using a highly limited sampling of tissues visualized in a two-dimensional (2D) manner although important tumor measurements are three-dimensional. Here we describe a '3D' technique for whole-mount, whole-specimen processing which reduces conformational change and dramatically increases specimen coverage, based on digitizing whole-specimen, whole-mount (up to 12.7cm×17.8cm) serial sections. We describe hardware and software tools for acquiring, viewing and processing the large image datasets (up to 400GB), validation studies investigating the clinical significance of the additional information gleaned from the 3D approach, and application to radiologic-pathologic correlation and biomarker visualization.
authors.affiliation: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. gina.clarke@sunnybrook.ca
authors.forename: Gina M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peressotti
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Constantinou
authors.forename: Danoush
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hosseinzadeh
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martel
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Yaffe
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D003201:Computers; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008853:Microscopy; D012106:Research; D012984:Software; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods; D014584:User-Computer Interface