TeleCyP (Telecytopathology): real-time fine-needle aspiration interpretation.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the application of TeleCyP for real-time fine-needle aspiration interpretation (RFI) necessary for case management and specimen triage.

STUDY DESIGN: Twenty-two endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS)-guided mediastinal and pulmonary cases were included in the learning phase to determine the time and efficiency of TeleCyP. Slides were scanned by a cytopathology fellow in real time, and high-speed transmitted images over a secure network were interpreted by a cytopathologist while maintaining audio communication. In the validation phase, an additional 38 pancreas cases from endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) were evaluated recapitulating the RFI scenario from the learning phase. The cytopathologist was blinded to the results of the diagnosis in both phases.

RESULTS: The time to provide assessment of specimen adequacy and a preliminary diagnosis was 53 s in the learning phase and 49 s in the validation phase. There was 100% correlation between RFI and TeleCyP assessment for specimen adequacy. TeleCyP particularly posed challenges in providing definitive interpretation on EUS-fine-needle aspiration of some of the pancreatic solid masses (11%, 4/36).

CONCLUSION: TeleCyP can serve as a powerful alternative, time-efficient strategy to provide RFI, and for specimen triaging which is critical for personalized medicine and patient management.