The Alliance for Digital Pathology, a voluntary and temporary initiative formed by various stakeholder groups, is asking for assistance in developing an international pathology data repository of digital images of tissue specimens from COVID-19 patients.
Under the stewardship of the World Health Organization, the alliance is collecting data in a standardized format from pathology institutions worldwide to share with other medical institutions and scientific bodies around the globe. The repository is intended to be a global resource that pathologists and researchers can use to gain an understanding of the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and establish histopathologic diagnostic criteria for the disease.
“As a proof of principle, the goal is to establish a standard data repository of digital images of postmortem lung specimens together with relevant metadata and make these data sets available to pathologists and scientists around the world,” according to a post from the alliance’s standards working group. To this end, the alliance is developing a standardized autopsy protocol and data submission form based on autopsy guidelines of the College of American Pathologists and Royal College of Pathologists. It is also establishing standards for structured reporting and for communicating digital images and related information to ensure that the information collected can be reliably exchanged, interpreted, and used regardless of language spoken or other potential barriers.
The alliance requests that laboratories worldwide contribute to the repository by completing a two-minute online questionnaire (https://digitalpathologyalliance.org/covid19) to assess current practice and capabilities for performing autopsies in a safe manner and for digitizing autopsy tissue specimens. The group is also asking institutions with access to COVID-19 tissue samples and the ability to digitize such samples via whole slide imaging or secondary capture to please contact the alliance at data-repository@digital pathologyalliance.org.
“We have already made significant strides in working together at the international level to establish a worldwide digital repository,” says Markus D. Herrmann, MD, PhD, co-chair of the standards working group and director of computational pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. The alliance held a webinar late last month, shortly after announcing plans for the repository, that was attended by more than 100 participants representing over 20 countries from five continents. “The collaborative spirit has been truly amazing, and we are very appreciative of the feedback and support,” he adds.
The alliance is made up of academic medical centers, vendors, professional societies and associations, regulatory bodies, and other stakeholder groups working to advance the field of digital pathology.