BACKGROUND: Experience in the use of whole slide imaging (WSI)
for primary diagnosis is limited and there are no comprehensive
reports evaluating this technology in liver biopsy specimens.
AIMS: To determine the accuracy of interpretation of WSI
compared with conventional light microscopy (CLM) in the
diagnosis of needle liver biopsies. METHODS: Two experienced
liver pathologists blindly analyzed 176 consecutive biopsies
from the Pathology Department at the Hospital Clinic of
Barcelona. One of the observers performed the initial evaluation
with CLM, and the second evaluation with WSI, whereas the second
observer performed the first evaluation with WSI and the second
with CLM. All slides were digitized in a Ventana iScan HT at
400x and evaluated with the Virtuoso viewer (Roche diagnostics).
We used kappa statistics (kappa) for two observations. RESULTS:
Intra-observer agreement between WSI and CLM evaluations was
almost perfect (96.6%, kappa=0.9; 95% confidence interval [95%
CI]: 0.9-1 for observer 1, and 90.3%, kappa=0.9; 95%CI: 0.8-0.9
for observer 2). Both native and transplantation biopsies showed
an almost perfect concordance in the diagnosis. CONCLUSION:
Diagnosis of needle liver biopsy specimens using WSI is
accurate. This technology can reliably be introduced in routine
diagnosis
