Enhanced imaging workflow for anatomic pathology: implementation of a knowledge actor

Introduction In Pathology, the development of slide scanners offers the possibility to acquire whole slide images (WSI) from specimen stored on glass slides and this is the beginning of a new paradigm in this medical domain. Two DICOM supplements were defined by the DICOM WG26 in order to store and display such big amount of data. These WSI images are mainly used for teaching, for research and for collaborative and cooperative applications. However, automated integration in the hospital healthcare enterprise (IHE) needs much more detailed information for i) integrating the digitalization process into the general diagnostic process in a Pathology Department, in other words, to define the WSI “acquisition modality work list”, and ii) integrating efficiently image analysis into the diagnostic process, e.g. to create “evidences” from a WSI.