A framework for managing histopathology images has been established. The components have been successfully researched and implemented, and a prototype system has been developed. The benefits of the breast cancer analysis tools, of the QinetiQ content-based image compression for telepathology and of the interactive database system have been demonstrated and have received clinical approval.
The major outcome of this project has been to show the feasibility of providing automated, objective and quantified histopathological scoring and grading for use in cancer management. This is ground breaking work and has never been accepted as possible let alone attempted. The next steps will involve a wider population of pathologists and use images from different pathology departments and hospitals, so that the inter-observer and intra-observer variations can be addressed more comprehensively, as well as to substantiate the value and use of fully objective and statistically robust measures.