To emulate
the examination of glass slides on a conventional light
microscope by creating an online "virtual microscope".
Getting Started with VDP
Virtual Dermpath is provided at no charge to Dermatology
residents and fellows in training. If you would like to
get started with VDP, register at: www.virtualdp.com
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Virtual Dermpath
is a virtual microscope application designed to enhance the
educational experience of Dermatology residents. It uses streaming
imaging techniques that enable educators to duplicate the experience
of using a light microscope. This tool is critical to the learning
process in the field of dermatopathology, for with it, clinical
and histopathological information for almost any disease process
is only a mouse click away.
The Internet has become one of the most widely used tools in
medical education. Much of its popularity stems from its ability
to blend images with text in an interactive manner. Today, clinical
and histopathological information for almost any disease process
is only a mouse click away, and newer techniques for dynamic
image display are revolutionizing the field of dermatopathology
education. These streaming imaging techniques enable educators
to incorporate images that duplicate the experience of using
a light microscope. This virtual microscope emulation is critical
to the learning process, compelling the user to not only interpret
images, but to select the fields of interest necessary to correctly
diagnose a tissue specimen. Derm.md has developed a novel way
to teach dermatopathology using "zoomable" imaging
via the Internet to enhance the educational experience.
Using an ultra-fast proprietary microscope slide scanner that
digitizes an entire slide at high resolution in minutes, imagery
data is captured at approximately 3 GB per minute. Following
wavelet compression, a typical slide is reduced in size to 150
MB. The typical scanning resolution is 54,000 pixels per inch,
with higher resolutions possible. Images are delivered over
the web in a proprietary format, which is conceptually a pyramidal
stack of jpeg-compressed images with a full sized, full resolution
image at the base and a small, low-resolution image at the top.
A zoom function jumps from one layer in the stack to the next,
changing magnification with the click of the mouse. This supercedes
previous attainable resolutions and more accurately emulates
a conventional light microscope.
An Educational
Online Microscope
"glass slide specimens
only a click away"
Our goal in the creation of this unique concept for teaching
Dermatopathology was to emulate the examination of glass slides
on a conventional microscope by creating a complete online learning
environment.
The virtual slide specimen is a digitally acquired image delivered
over the web in a novel format. Conceptually, this slide is
made up of a pyramidal stack of compressed images, with an extremely
large, high-resolution image at the bottom of the pyramid. Starting
at the tip of the pyramid, or the lowest power, the user can
obtain higher and higher magnifications to recognize histologic
patterns of cutaneous diseases and evaluate precise cellular
detail and morphology. In short, the more the image is magnified,
the more detailed information the user gains about the image.
One may select from any number of diagnoses and view each at
one’s leisure.
Most importantly, the user is in control, achieving a degree
of interactivity that compels them to select fields of view
necessary to make a diagnosis, as opposed to being guided towards
a diagnosis by examination of a series of pre-selected pertinent
images.
Following is a diagram of what VDP has to offer:
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