Telepathology in Renal Allograft Pathology: Current Trends and Future Prospects

In contemporary kidney transplantation, the pathology is important for diagnosing various problems with an allograft. Striking a balance is essential to achieve accuracy and speed of a diagnosis. However, because of the distinctive characteristics of renal allograft pathology, there is a lack of pathologists with expertise in this specific domain.

A telepathology system using digital pathology can facilitate the delivery of diagnostic outcomes even in settings where pathologists with expertise may not be continuously available. This system is equivalent in diagnostic ability and superior in speed to the method using conventional diagnosis by light microscopy with glass slides. The pathology guidelines of various countries have emphasized the importance of ensuring the quality of digital pathology. Although maintaining the quality of diagnosis is necessary, telepathology in renal allograft pathology is an innovative tool that can shorten the time to diagnosis and address the shortage of pathologists. Unfortunately, the routine use of telepathology is currently limited to only a few institutions in Japan. One of the reasons for this limited use is the heavy burden on facilities requesting biopsies to set up infrastructure, such as slide scanners and servers.

Consequently, there is an urgent need for greater public support of telepathology.