Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications
Publication Date
2-1-2024
Journal
Annals of 3D Printed Medicine
DOI
10.1016/j.stlm.2024.100145
PMID
38405263
PMCID
PMC10887376
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
2-1-2025
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Author MSS
Published Open-Access
yes
Keywords
telepathology, 3d-printer, low-cost
Abstract
In this manuscript we assessed the utility of a low-cost 3D printed microscope to evaluate esophageal biopsies. We conducted a comparative analysis between the traditional microscope and our 3-D printed microscope, utilizing a set of esophageal biopsy samples obtained from patients undergoing screening endoscopy. Two pathologists independently examined 30 esophageal biopsies by light microscopy and digital images obtained using a low-cost 3D printed microscope (Observer 1 and 2). The glass slide consensus diagnosis was compared to the findings of 2 additional pathologist who independently just reviewed the digital images (Observer 3 and 4). The intra-observer agreement was substantial to almost perfect for observer 1 (k:0.64) and 2 (k:0.84). All four observers had 100% sensitivity and negative predictive value, whereas specificity ranged from 59% to 100% and positive predictive value ranged from 21% to 100%. The PPV and specificity were lower for the two Observers (3 and 4) who just examined the digital images. Overall, our results suggest that telepathology may be used with high sensitivity and specificity, utilizing the pictures produced by our 3D-printed microscope.