Digital Pathology Tissue Maps With Salient Region Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing AI-based heatmap overlays in pathology imaging can obscure tissue specimens, hindering pathologists' ability to interpret and diagnose effectively due to obtrusive visualizations.
Innovation Solution
An AI system is used to detect salient features in pathology images and generate a salient region overlay that suppresses non-salient regions, allowing pathologists to focus on significant areas without toggling between heatmap and tissue.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If AI-based heatmap overlay is used to indicate salient regions, then diagnostic accuracy is improved, but tissue visibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the pathology slide into multiple regions of interest (ROIs) based on salient features detected by AI. Instead of applying a uniform heatmap overlay across the entire image, the system identifies and isolates specific regions containing cancer cells, benign structures, or other diagnostically relevant features. This segmentation allows pathologists to focus on critical areas while maintaining visibility of surrounding tissue contexts.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different visualization qualities to different regions of the pathology slide. Salient regions containing diagnostic features receive enhanced highlighting with controlled transparency, while non-salient regions maintain full tissue visibility. The system adjusts overlay intensity and transparency locally based on the detected salience of each region, ensuring that diagnostic accuracy is enhanced without unnecessarily obscuring tissue in non-critical areas.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If heatmap overlay is applied to highlight salient features, then feature detection is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic visualization system where the heatmap overlay properties (transparency, intensity, color) can be adjusted interactively by pathologists. The system allows real-time modification of overlay parameters and enables pathologists to toggle between different visualization modes (e.g., full transparency, partial overlay, no overlay) based on their immediate diagnostic needs, making the tool adaptable to various operational scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer between the raw pathology image and the pathologist's analysis. This intermediary consists of multiple visualization modes and overlay configurations that mediate the information flow. The system provides intermediate visual representations (e.g., semi-transparent overlays, region-specific highlighting) that bridge the gap between raw data and diagnostic interpretation, making the system more user-friendly while maintaining feature detection capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are disclosed for analyzing an image of a slide corresponding to a specimen, the method including receiving at least one digitized image of a pathology specimen; determining, using the digitized image at an artificial intelligence (AI) system, at least one salient feature, the at least one salient comprising a biomarker, cancer, cancer grade, parasite, toxicity, inflammation, and/or cancer sub-type; determining, at the AI system, a salient region overlay for the digitized image, wherein the AI system indicates a value for each pixel; and suppressing, based on the value for each pixel, one or more non-salient regions of the digitized image.