Overview

SlideQC BF is an AI-powered application for H&E- and IHC-stained whole slide images that enables an automated and robust quality control workflow by detecting the most common artifacts generated during the process of slide preparation and scanning including air bubbles, dust/debris, folds, out-of-focus areas, and pen marks. It is seamlessly integrated into the HALO AP® diagnostic digital pathology platform.  ​

Intended Use

SlideQC BF is an AI-powered quality assurance tool for whole slide images. It assists laboratory personnel with quantification of the most common artifacts generated during slide creation and scanning.

Inputs

H&E- and IHC-stained whole slide images​

Key Outputs

A visual mask identifying areas of artifacts and a calculation of area and percentage of slide affected by artifacts.

File Formats

• Non-proprietary (JPG, TIF, OME. TIFF, DICOM [DCM*])
• Leica (SVS, AFI, SCN, LIF)
• Hamamatsu (NDPI, NDPIS)
• Philips (iSyntax, i2Syntax)
• 3DHistech (MRXS)
• Nikon (ND2)
• Akoya (QPTIFF, component TIFF)
• Olympus / Evident (VSI)
• Zeiss (CZI)
• Ventana (BIF) 
• KFBIO (KFB, KFBF)
• *whole-slide images

Benefits

Improve the Efficiency of Your Workflow

Providing pathologists with high-quality digital slides expedites report generation and enhances patient care. With HALO AP®, slides can be scanned by SlideQC BF and additional image analysis algorithms, all before the pathologist gets the case.

Increase Staff Availability

SlideQC BF automates slide checking, freeing technicians for other laboratory tasks. It quantifies slide artifacts, allowing you to set the manual review threshold and oversee the quality control process in your laboratory.

Future Proof Your Lab

Integrated with HALO AP®, SlideQC BF not only triages slides before they are analyzed by other algorithms, it also effectively removes tissue containing artifacts from downstream analysis leading to more accurate results and improved data integrity.

AI-Powered Quality Control

We’ve developed SlideQC BF to detect the most common artifacts found in H&E and IHC slides. Artifacts may be introduced at any stage of whole slide image (WSI) generation and can negatively impact the digital pathology workflow by hindering clinical reporting and resulting in false positive or negative results when deploying image analysis algorithms or computer-aided diagnostics.

Elevate Your Analysis

Artifacts can prevent image analysis and AI algorithms from yielding correct results. SlideQC BF automatically detects and annotates artifacts present on slides, preventing them from being analyzed by algorithms, which increases the accuracy and quality of the analysis results while maximizing the utility of tissue.

Seamless Deployment in HALO AP®

SlideQC BF​ is deployed and fully integrated into HALO AP®, the AI-powered, pathologist-driven platform for anatomic pathology workflows from Indica Labs.

Advanced Workflow Features in HALO AP®

Within HALO AP®, SlideQC BF can automatically tag cases with slides meeting or exceeding a laboratory-defined artifact threshold for recut or rescan. Cases can then be triaged into separate worklists for automated quality control workflows, all before the pathologist ever receives the case.

Customize Artifact Thresholds for Your Lab

Take your quality control process to the next level with SlideQC BF. With customizable thresholds, you can fine-tune the detection parameters to meet your lab’s unique needs. Slides with artifacts that do not reach the laboratory-defined threshold can have the areas affected by artifacts automatically excluded from downstream analysis or be sent to specific worklists in HALO AP® for review.