Systems and methods for meso-dissection
The subject disclosure provides systems, computer-implemented methods, and clinical workflows for meso-dissection of biological specimens and tissue slides by incorporating annotation and inter-marker registration modules within digital pathology imaging and meso-dissection (or milling) systems. Images of a reference slide a milling slide may be acquired using the same imaging system, with the annotations on the image associated with the milling slide being based on the inter-marker registration. Each image along with its respective annotations and meta-data may be associated with a project or a case, and stored in an image management system. A same-marker registration may be used to map annotations from the annotated image of the milling slide to a live image of the milling slide. The milling slide may be milled based on the annotations, with milled tissue output into a contained that is labeled in association with the labeled input slides.
1. An instrument for combined digital pathology and meso-dissection, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor, the memory to store computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
using an intermarker registration operation or a same-marker registration operation to map annotations from a first image to one or more of a plurality of adjacent images including a milling image, wherein the first image and the plurality of adjacent images correspond to different serial sections derived from a single tissue block, and wherein each serial section is disposed on a different substrate; and
subsequently dissecting a milling slide corresponding to the milling image based on the annotations; and
wherein the annotations are mapped to a live-image of the milling slide.
2. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein annotated areas of interest on the milling slide are subsequently dissected based on the annotated live image.
3. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the first image and the milling image correspond to the same milling slide.
4. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise generating a milling annotation based on the annotations.
5. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the one or more annotations comprise XML data.
6. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise associating the one or more annotations and a milled tissue sample from the milling slide with a patient.
7. The instrument of claim 6 , wherein the associating comprises using a unique identifier.
8. The instrument of claim 6 , wherein a result of analysis of the milled tissue sample is also associated with the patient.
9. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein a result of analysis of the milled tissue sample is used to determine one or more of a subsequent scanning operation or a subsequent milling operation.
10. A digital pathology instrument, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor, the memory to store computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
annotating a first image of a plurality of serial images of a tissue block;
mapping the annotations from the first image to a milling image; and
exporting the one or more annotations of the milling image to a milling system,
wherein the first image of the plurality of the serial images and the milling image each correspond to a different serial tissue section derived from the tissue block and wherein each serial tissue section is disposed on a different substrate.
11. The instrument of claim 10 , wherein the milling system dissects a milling slide associated with the milling image based on the annotations and/or wherein the milling system maps the annotations from the annotated milling image to a live image of a milling slide using a same-marker registration operation.
12. The instrument of claim 10 , wherein the mapping of the annotations from the first image to the milling image uses an intermarker registration operation.
13. An instrument for combined digital pathology and meso-dissection, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor, the memory to store computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
mapping annotations from a first image to at least a milling image, wherein the first image and the at least the milling image correspond to different serial sections derived from a single tissue block, and wherein each serial section is disposed on a different slide; and
subsequently dissecting a milling slide corresponding to the milling image based on the mapped annotations.
14. The instrument of claim 13 , wherein the milling image is a live image, and wherein the annotations are mapped to the live image.
15. The instrument of claim 13 , wherein the milling image is a stored image.
16. The instrument of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprising mapping annotations from the first image to at least one additional image corresponding to a serial tissue section which differs from the serial sections corresponding to the first image and the milling image.
17. The instrument of claim 13 , wherein the mapping of the annotations is performed using an intermarker registration algorithm.
18. The instrument of claim 13 , wherein the mapping of the annotations is performed using a same-marker registration algorithm.