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Virtual Dermpath is a virtual microscope application designed to enhance
the educational experience of Dermatology residents. It uses streaming
imaging techniques that enable educators to duplicate the experience
of using a light microscope. This tool is critical to the learning
process in the field of dermatopathology, for with it, clinical and
histopathological information for almost any disease process is only
a mouse click away.
The Internet has become one of the most widely used tools in medical
education. Much of its popularity stems from its ability to blend
images with text in an interactive manner. Today, clinical and histopathological
information for almost any disease process is only a mouse click away,
and newer techniques for dynamic image display are revolutionizing
the field of dermatopathology education. These streaming imaging techniques
enable educators to incorporate images that duplicate the experience
of using a light microscope. This virtual microscope emulation is
critical to the learning process, compelling the user to not only
interpret images, but to select the fields of interest necessary to
correctly diagnose a tissue specimen. derm.md has developed a novel
way to teach dermatopathology using "zoomable" imaging via
the Internet to enhance the educational experience.
Using an ultra-fast proprietary microscope slide scanner that digitizes
an entire slide at high resolution in minutes, imagery data is captured
at approximately 3 GB per minute. Following wavelet compression, a
typical slide is reduced in size to 150 MB. The typical scanning resolution
is 54,000 pixels per inch, with higher resolutions possible. Images
are delivered over the web in a proprietary format, which is conceptually
a pyramidal stack of jpeg-compressed images with a full sized, full
resolution image at the base and a small, low-resolution image at
the top. A zoom function jumps from one layer in the stack to the
next, changing magnification with the click of the mouse. This supercedes
previous attainable resolutions and more accurately emulates a conventional
light microscope. An Educational Online Microscope
"glass slide specimens only a click away"
Our goal in the creation of this unique concept for teaching Dermatopathology
was to emulate the examination of glass slides on a conventional microscope
by creating a complete online learning environment.
The virtual slide specimen is a digitally acquired image delivered
over the web in a novel format. Conceptually, this slide is made up
of a pyramidal stack of compressed images, with an extremely large,
high-resolution image at the bottom of the pyramid. Starting at the
tip of the pyramid, or the lowest power, the user can obtain higher
and higher magnifications to recognize histologic patterns of cutaneous
diseases and evaluate precise cellular detail and morphology. In short,
the more the image is magnified, the more detailed information the
user gains about the image. One may select from any number of diagnoses
and view each at one’s leisure.
Most importantly, the user is in control, achieving a degree of interactivity
that compels them to select fields of view necessary to make a diagnosis,
as opposed to being guided towards a diagnosis by examination of a
series of pre-selected pertinent images.
Following is a diagram of what VDP has to offer:

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www.virtualdp.com
To emulate the examination of glass slides on a conventional light
microscope by creating an online "virtual microscope".
Getting Started with VDP
Virtual Dermpath is provided at no charge to Dermatology residents
and fellows in training. If you would like to get started with VDP,
register at: www.virtualdp.com
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