Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 25, 2026
Enhanced Communication of Tumor Margins Using 3D Scanning and Mapping
Published on: December 15, 2023
Improving the histopathologic diagnosis of pediatric malignancies in a low-resource setting by combining focused
Teresa C Santiago1, Jesse J Jenkins, Francisco Pedrosa
1Department of Pathology, Instituto Materno-Infantil de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.
Background:
Accurate diagnosis is critical for optimal management of pediatric cancer. Pathologists with experience in pediatric oncology are in short supply in the developing world. Telepathology is increasingly used for consultations but its overall contribution to diagnostic accuracy is unknown.
Procedure:
We developed a strategy to provide a focused training in pediatric cancer and telepathology support to pathologists in the developing world. After the training period, we compared trainee's diagnoses with those of an experienced pathologist. We next compared the effectiveness of static versus dynamic telepathology review in 127 cases. Results were compared by Fisher's exact test.
Results:
The diagnoses of the trainee and the expert pathologist differed in only 6.5% of cases (95% CI, 1.2-20.0%). The overall concordance between the telepathology and original diagnoses was 90.6% (115/127; 95% CI, 84.1-94.6%).
Conclusions:
Brief, focused training in pediatric cancer histopathology can improve diagnostic accuracy. Dynamic and static telepathology analyses are equally effective for diagnostic review.