Every digital pathology company says, “We’re the fastest and have the best image quality!”  But next week that statement will be put to the test at the first ever scanner contest for digital pathology on May 25-26, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) in collaboration with the Telepathology Network in Europe (EURO-TELEPATH) will host the contest.  Currently there are six companies signed up to participate, and they can provide up to two scanners of an identical or different type. The contest room will allow each company privacy, and there will be a referee available during the contest days.  The glass slides will be provided by the organizing committee and companies can also choose to participate in all or some of the evaluation parameters.  The evaluation parameters will include:

• Time- Measured two ways:
  • A referee with a stop watch
  • Analysis of the log files

• Image Quality- Evaluated on the number of particles detected and scanned, amount of unfocused regions, stitching artifacts, overall image quality at a given magnification.  This will be measure two ways:
  • Manually by pathologists or other users
  • Automatically by computer programs

If a company runs into technical problems which cannot be fixed in time, there will be another chance to scan parallel to the running conference for the German Society of Pathology meeting being held May 27th-30th.

Preliminary results for the scanner contest will be presented during the German Society of Pathology meeting, and additional results will follow after the meeting and contest.  Companies will be able to decide which results should be part of the contest and which should not, and they can contribute comments.  Also, the organizers are working to make a web server available with the scanned test slides and each manufacturers viewer that will be available till the next contest for anyone to see and use.

Overall, I think this is a great idea and applaud the companies who have signed up to take the challenge.  The reward for the company who takes the GOLD is to be able to say “We are the fastest and have the best image quality” and most importantly, be able to back that statement up. I look forward to seeing the results and wish all companies the best of luck! To learn more about this contest and the COST working group meeting, click here.