Digital Pathology and AI as Critical Infrastructure for Pathology Services During COVID-19 and Future Crises
Written during the early pandemic, this paper from the PathLAKE consortium examines how COVID-19 disrupted clinical and research pathology services and argues that digital pathology and AI are essential to safeguarding remote diagnostic workflows. The authors demonstrate how digital infrastructure enabled continued reporting during lockdowns and make the case for accelerated adoption as a resilience measure against future crises.
The original study
Digital pathology and artificial intelligence will be key to supporting clinical and academic cellular pathology through COVID-19 and future crises: the PathLAKE consortium perspective.
- Authors
- Browning L, Colling R, Rakha E, Rajpoot N, Rittscher J, James JA, et al.
- Journal
- Journal of clinical pathology
- Type
- Journal Article, Review
- PMID
- 32620678
Original abstract
The measures to control the COVID-19 outbreak will likely remain a feature of our working lives until a suitable vaccine or treatment is found. The pandemic has had a substantial impact on clinical services, including cancer pathways. Pathologists are working remotely in many circumstances to protect themselves, colleagues, family members and the delivery of clinical services. The effects of COVID-19 on research and clinical trials have also been significant with changes to protocols, suspensions of studies and redeployment of resources to COVID-19. In this article, we explore the specific impact of COVID-19 on clinical and academic pathology and explore how digital pathology and artificial intelligence can play a key role to safeguarding clinical services and pathology-based research in the current climate and in the future.