135Alfred K. Lam (ed.), Esophageal Adenocarcinoma: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 1756,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7734-5_12, © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2018
Chapter 12
Whole-Slide Imaging for Esophageal Adenocarcinoma
Alfred K. Lam and Melissa Leung
Abstract
Whole-slide imaging revolutionizes the field of pathology especially in the areas of facilitation of research,
long-term storages, exchange of information, and image analysis. In this process, a scanning equipment
(scanner) scans the whole glass slide into a digital file. In research in esophageal adenocarcinoma or
other cancers, whole-slide imaging could help in production of high-resolution images for studying and
sharing of research information, assessment of tissue microarray slides as well as allowing digital image
analysis of the tissue information such as level of staining (e.g., HER2) in a more efficient and objective
manner. In this chapter, we will elaborate the concepts, advantages, barriers, and the operations of
whole-slide imaging scanning.
Key words Whole-slide imaging, Scanning, Esophageal adenocarcinoma, Image analysis, TMA1 Introduction
In the recent decade, the success of whole-slide scanning facilities
the clinical diagnostic, education, and research activities in medical
field involving anatomical pathology [ 1 , 2 ]. Whole-slide imaging is
the scanning of conventional glass slides in order to produce digital
slides. It is also commonly referred to as “virtual microscopy,”
Virtual microscopy aims to imitate the conventional light micros-
copy in a computer-generated manner.
Whole-slide imaging has the advantage providing higher qual-
ity and better focused images when compared with the static
images taken by the standard digital camera. The assessment of
large number of images as in tissue microarray sections could be
done in a more efficient way by using whole-slide imaging. In addi-
tion, images analysis could easily be applied on the digital images
obtained which make counting of immunohistochemical staining
easy. Furthermore, the technology could help store and present
(telepathology) the clinical and research materials in a better way
than using the classical glass slides [ 3 , 4 ].