How to Go About Digital Scanning Of Pathology Slides? Are you looking for better digital images from the glass slides? Here are some tips that you may use. It starts with right tissue preparation and is vital that you have well-prepared tissues. No matter how good the scanner maybe it can’t compensate for the samples that have been taken inappropriately.
Preparing Tissues When cutting or preparing tissues for digital scanning, you may be able to get the best results when the standard tissue thickness is between 3 and 5 micrometers. If
the section happens to be thick multi-scanning may be needed. Very faint scanning or excessive background staining may make it very difficult to find the scanner to identify the tissues, and it may mean more manual work. The tissues should be properly mounted, and with traditional microscopy, the digital scanners do best pathology slide analysis when they get the flat tissue surface. You may avoid folds or wrinkles in the tissue for optimal focus. If you plan to scan the slide, the glass coverslips are preferable as plastic coverslips may wrap over-time and they may also affect scanner focus as well. It is also a good option that there are no air-bubbles are trapped under the coverslip to prevent areas that are being scanned.
Slide Inspection & Preparation If you want to improve results with the slides, it is always better to check and clean before scanning it. You should always inspect the slides for any overhanging labels, tapes or excess mounting medium. It may affect the fit of the slide and may slow the operation as well. Start with carefully wiping slides with the help of a soft cloth to remove any debris, water spots, and the fingerprints as well. You should also check for cracks or chips in the slide. Make sure that there is nothing in the vicinity which may fall off and damage the very mechanism of scanning. You should wait until slides are completely dry before they have loaded into the scanner.
Scanning the Slide
The scanner automatically detects the slide and focus is also automatic on the focal points. It is advisable that you should avoid placing focus points on areas where there is debris.
Finally To make sure the pathology slide analysis is done properly just review the whole slide or the scanned tissue area for once.