PMID: 11604903Oct 18, 2001Paper

Computer-based diagnostic support systems in histopathology: what should they do?

Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
G T BurgerH Hollema

Abstract

In many fields in histopathology diagnosis making is notoriously difficult. We explored the diagnostic process in the area of CL and related disorders. The field of cutaneous lymphomas (CL) and borderline lesions is complex and representative for the type of diagnostic problems encountered. A review of diagnostic support systems in diagnostic pathology revealed that the usefulness of these systems has been disappointing. We contribute this to the fact that these systems target only part of the diagnostic process. A tentative model of diagnosis making in pathology is presented. This model assumes a two-step process, from observation to feature recognition and from features to diagnosis. In a retrospective study of existing skin biopsy pathology reports we assessed detail and scope of the histological descriptions. In a second, prospective study, a pathologist panel described a set of 16 skin biopsies using a standard set of descriptors. The retrospective study showed a large variability in the nature and details of described features, whereas the prospective study showed lack of consensus regarding both feature descriptions and diagnostic category. Both studies provide an indication that lack of consensus in feature recognition ...Continue Reading

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