Beyond the Microscope : Unlocking Hidden Insights with AI in Clinical Cytopathology
Our project originated in the field of clinical cytopathological diagnostics—the current concept of "digital pathology" in the sense of simply transferring an image from a microscope to a large screen, which does indeed provide the pathologist with greater comfort and better clarity, seemed insufficient to us—the digitization of microscopic images opens up completely new perspectives - Digital & AI image analysis has the potential to extract and reveal image parameters that are still hidden from the human eye—similar to how the advent of CAT and later MRI or PET represented a qualitative leap from classic X-rays in medicine.
Since our medical background specializes in clinical cytology and cytopathology of body fluids (effusion cytology-pleural fluid, bronchoalveolar lavage, ascites, joint fluid, urine, and especially CSF...),we were able to assemble a strong multidisciplinary team for our project, bringing together experts from the fields of medicine, IT, computer vision, and AI.
At the very beginning of our digital cytology project, we encountered some fairly fundamental problems with the digitization of 3D liquid-based cytological specimens... which presented us with an enormous challenge!
Therefore, as a first step, we developed and subsequently patented cIToStackᵀᴹ technology, which enables automatic focusing of individual cells and lossless compression of cytological WSIs.
The use of cIToStackᵀᴹ technology offers a cost-effective, scanner-independent, stand-alone software solution for rationalizing cytological scan data volumes, as well as efficient, fast, and convenient sample evaluation by cytopathologists. Perfect cell focusing paves the way for further advanced digital image analysis using AI. Integrated quality control of performed scans is also important from the perspective of good laboratory practice.
However, cIToStackᵀᴹ is only the first, albeit fundamental and necessary, step towards our main goal—the development of a true AI assistant for clinical cytologists and cytopathologists at a high level of expertise, not just an "automated slide screener"...
Our team has been working on digital cytology for several years, and we have now moved on to the phase of testing the pilot version on real cytological samples from patients in routine clinical practice!
We look forward to presenting more after completing thorough clinical testing - and subsequently registering further patents, as we believe will be the case.
Dr. Ondrej Sobek, MD, PhD, MIAC
Founder, Chairman of the Medical board
