Assessment of parathyroid gland cellularity by digital slide analysis

• Published in: Annals of diagnostic pathology Vol. 58; p. 151907
• Main Authors: Sagiv, Rotem, Delgado, Bertha, Lavon, Oleg, Osipov, Vladislav, Sade, Re'em, Shashar, Sagi, Yegodayev, Ksenia M., Elkabets, Moshe, Joshua, Ben-Zion
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-06-2022
• Subjects: Computer-assisted image analysis; Hyperparathyroidism; Light Microscopy; Parathyroid Adenoma; Parathyroidectomy; Surgical Pathology; Parathyroid Adenoma; Computer-assisted image analysis; Parathyroidectomy; Surgical Pathology; Light Microscopy; Hyperparathyroidism
• ISSN: 1092-9134; 1532-8198
• DOI: 10.1016/j.anndiagpath.2022.151907

Computer-aided examination of digital tissue images has attracted attention in recent years. Application in the field of parathyroid pathology has not been studied previously. It holds a potential to assist in the examination of parathyroid gland adenoma or hyperplasia.
To explore parathyroid cell detection of slide images by digital tissue analysis and compare the results to standard human processing.
47 incisional biopsies of healthy appearing parathyroid glands were evaluated for their cellularity level. First, by the standard examination using microscopy by three independent pathologists. We compared the mean cellularity grading of the pathologists to the output of a computerized cell detection software.
A disagreement was found between the standard human cellularity grading and the digital analysis output. However, the digital analysis reaches a 94% specificity and 48% sensitivity to predict high cellularity (>60% parenchymal cells).
Digital analysis of parathyroid tissue can be used as a tool for hypercellularity elimination, therefore assisting in the diagnosis of parathyroid cell hyperplasia. Additional studies using more advanced algorithms are necessary for further precision enhancement.
•Parathyroid cell detection by digital tissue analysis has not been studied before.•There is disagreement between standard human grading and digital analysis.•High specificity of digital analysis assists in parathyroid hyperplasia diagnosis.