Abstract:
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Conventional light microscopy (CLM) has classically been the
basic tool to teach histology and pathology. In recent years,
whole-slide imaging (WSI), which consists of generating a
high-magnification digital image of an entire histological glass
slide, has emerged as a useful alternative to CLM offering a
myriad of opportunities for education. Navigation through the
digitized slides closely simulates viewing glass slides with a
microscope and is also referred to as virtual microscopy. WSI
has many advantages for education. Students feel more
comfortable with its use, and it can be used in any classroom as
it only requires a computer with Internet access and it allows
remote access from anywhere and from any device. WSI can be used
simultaneously by a large number of people, stimulating
cooperation between students and improving the interaction with
the teachers. It allows making marks and annotations on specific
fields, which enable specific directed questions to the teacher.
Finally, WSI supports are cost-effective compared with CLM.
Consequently, WSI has begun to replace CLM in many institutions.
WSI has shown to be an extremely useful tool for undergraduate
education (medical, dental and veterinary schools), for the
training of residents of pathology, tele-education and in tumor
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