Implementation of Digital Pathology in Diagnosis of Some Neoplastic Lesions in Pets

Abstract

This study was aiming to diagnose some tumors affecting pets' animals and using these cases as a module for digital pathology (DP) application through converting of normal glass slide into whole slide image (WSI) for the appliance of telepathology and comparison between virtual microscope and light microscope to validate the use of WSI for primary diagnosis. The total number of collected samples was fifty-three. They were collected from 38 dogs and 15 cats within one-year period from January 2019 to January 2020 from different pets' clinics in Cairo, Egypt. Twenty-nine (29) out of these samples were cutaneous tumors and 24 samples were mammary gland tumors. All tissue specimens were preserved in 10%nuteral buffered formalin, sliced into 4 µm tissue thickness, and loaded on a glass slides then stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) for routine histopathology examination. Some special stains as MTC and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining were performed on selected tumor samples. Ordinary glass slides were converted into WSI to be used for telepathology. WSIs were sent as download links for many pathology experts after histopathology examination to compare between the obtained diagnosis and to confirm if it was reliable, accurate, facilitated diagnosis and manageable for slides exchange. The collected fifty-three samples were grouped into three categories The first category included twelve samples of feline mammary tumors (FMT), eleven samples were malignant tumors and a single case of benign fibroepithelial hyperplasia. Tubulopapillary carcinoma was the predominant histological pattern of FMT. Three rare malignant mammary tumors were recorded in the examined FMT including, glycogen rich carcinoma which characterized by presence of