Michaela Kargl | Searcharxiv

arXiv2025

From slides to AI-ready maps: Standardized multi-layer tissue maps as metadata for artificial intelligence in digital pathology

A Whole Slide Image (WSI) is a high-resolution digital image created by scanning an entire glass slide containing a biological specimen, such as tissue sections or cell samples, at multiple magnifications. These images are digitally viewable, analyzable, and shareable, and are widely used for Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm development. WSIs play an important role in pathology for disease diagnosis and oncology for cancer research, but are also applied in neurology, veterinary medicine, hematology, microbiology, dermatology, pharmacology, toxicology, immunology, and forensic science. When assembling cohorts for AI training or validation, it is essential to know the content of a WSI. However, no standard currently exists for this metadata, and such a selection has largely relied on manual inspection, which is not suitable for large collections with millions of objects. We propose a general framework to generate 2D index maps (tissue maps) that describe the morphological content of WSIs using common syntax and semantics to achieve interoperability between catalogs. The tissue maps are structured in three layers: source, tissue type, and pathological alterations. Each layer assigns WSI segments to specific classes, providing AI-ready metadata. We demonstrate the advantages of this standard by applying AI-based metadata extraction from WSIs to generate tissue maps and integrating them into a WSI archive. This integration enhances search capabilities within WSI archives, thereby facilitating the accelerated assembly of high-quality, balanced, and more targeted datasets for AI training, validation, and cancer research.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2022

Recommendations on test datasets for evaluating AI solutions in pathology

Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that automatically extract information from digital histology images have shown great promise for improving pathological diagnosis. Prior to routine use, it is important to evaluate their predictive performance and obtain regulatory approval. This assessment requires appropriate test datasets. However, compiling such datasets is challenging and specific recommendations are missing. A committee of various stakeholders, including commercial AI developers, pathologists, and researchers, discussed key aspects and conducted extensive literature reviews on test datasets in pathology. Here, we summarize the results and derive general recommendations for the collection of test datasets. We address several questions: Which and how many images are needed? How to deal with low-prevalence subsets? How can potential bias be detected? How should datasets be reported? What are the regulatory requirements in different countries? The recommendations are intended to help AI developers demonstrate the utility of their products and to help regulatory agencies and end users verify reported performance measures. Further research is needed to formulate criteria for sufficiently representative test datasets so that AI solutions can operate with less user intervention and better support diagnostic workflows in the future.

eess.IV↗