Balancing Image Quality and Compression Factor for Special Stains Whole Slide Images
Anurag Sharma, Pinky A. Bautista, Yukako Yagi · Analytical Cellular Pathology · 2012
The objective is to find a practical balance between quality and performance for daily high volume whole slide imaging. We evaluated whole slide images created by various scanners at different compression factors to determine the best suitable quality factor (QF) needed for pathological images of special stains. Method: We scanned two sets of eight special stains slides each at 0.50 μm/pixel resolution in Hamamatsu scanner at six and fiveQFlevels respectively to generate 72 images which were observed at a calibrated monitor by imaging specialists, a histo-technician, and a pathologist to find the most suitableQFlevel for special stains in digital slides. Results: Most special stains images were acceptable at QF 30 except for the stain Reticulin where the lowest acceptableQFwas 50. The compression of images fromQF90 toQF50 reduced the size of the images by 62.73%. Conclusion: 0.50 μm/pixel images atQF50 or above were found suitable 12 special stain.