Issue 14, 2022

High-throughput digital pathology via a handheld, multiplexed, and AI-powered ptychographic whole slide scanner

Abstract

The recent advent of whole slide imaging (WSI) systems has moved digital pathology closer to diagnostic applications and clinical practices. Integrating WSI with machine learning promises the growth of this field in upcoming years. Here we report the design and implementation of a handheld, colour-multiplexed, and AI-powered ptychographic whole slide scanner for digital pathology applications. This handheld scanner is built using low-cost and off-the-shelf components, including red, green, and blue laser diodes for sample illumination, a modified stage for programmable sample positioning, and a synchronized image sensor pair for data acquisition. We smear a monolayer of goat blood cells on the main sensor for high-resolution lensless coded ptychographic imaging. The synchronized secondary sensor acts as a non-contact encoder for precisely tracking the absolute object position for ptychographic reconstruction. For WSI, we introduce a new phase-contrast-based focus metric for post-acquisition autofocusing of both stained and unstained specimens. We show that the scanner can resolve the 388-nm linewidth on the resolution target and acquire gigapixel images with a 14 mm × 11 mm area in ∼70 seconds. The imaging performance is validated with regular stained pathology slides, unstained thyroid smears, and malaria-infected blood smears. The deep neural network developed in this study further enables high-throughput cytometric analysis using the recovered complex amplitude. The reported do-it-yourself scanner offers a portable solution to transform the high-end WSI system into one that can be made widely available at a low cost. The capability of high-throughput quantitative phase imaging may also find applications in rapid on-site evaluations.

Graphical abstract: High-throughput digital pathology via a handheld, multiplexed, and AI-powered ptychographic whole slide scanner

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Janv. 2022
Accepted
11 Maijs 2022
First published
12 Maijs 2022

Lab Chip, 2022,22, 2657-2670

Author version available

High-throughput digital pathology via a handheld, multiplexed, and AI-powered ptychographic whole slide scanner

S. Jiang, C. Guo, P. Song, T. Wang, R. Wang, T. Zhang, Q. Wu, R. Pandey and G. Zheng, Lab Chip, 2022, 22, 2657 DOI: 10.1039/D2LC00084A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements