INTRODUCTION The Acibadem Health Group (AHG) has been using telepathology/digital pathology stations since 2006. In 2013, the system was changed from videoconferencing to digital pathology (whole-slide imaging) utilizing 3DHISTECH scanners and software. In 2017, digital cytology started to be used for routine cytopathologic diagnosis for thyroid fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cases. MATERIAL AND METHODS Two hundred and twenty-seven thyroid cases were received for analysis using telecytology (TC) during the period from November 2017 to May 2018. Rapid on-site evaluation was performed at the Atakent Hospital of the AHG by a cytotechnologist and scanned on the same day. For every case, there were Diff-Quik- and Papanicolaou-stained FNA smears. Each glass slide was digitized with a 3DHISTECH whole-slide scanner in 1 focal Z-plane at ×40 magnification. RESULTS Two hundred and twenty-seven thyroid FNA specimens were retrieved, of which 25 had histologic follow-up. Samples were classified as nondiagnostic in 3%, benign in 74%, atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance in 13%, suspicious for follicular neoplasia/follicular neoplasia in 3%, suspicious for malignancy in 4%, and malignant in 3%. When only the "suspicious for malignancy" and "malignancy" categories were considered positive tests, cytology sensitivity and specificity using TC for diagnosis was 100%. CONCLUSIONS Our data demonstrate that TC is suitable to provide a primary diagnosis in daily routine cytology practice. Despite the promising results, there were some challenges stemming from the novelty of using TC for the primary diagnosis. The study also addresses both advantages and disadvantages of TC in daily practice to increase the efficiency of the technique in primary diagnosis.

中文翻译：

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远距细胞学在甲状腺细针抽吸标本的初步诊断中的作用。

引言Acibadem Health Group（AHG）自2006年以来一直使用远程病理学/数字病理学工作站。2013年，使用3DHISTECH扫描仪和软件将该系统从视频会议改为了数字病理学（全幻灯片成像）。2017年，数字细胞学开始用于甲状腺细针穿刺（FNA）病例的常规细胞病理学诊断。材料与方法在2017年11月至2018年5月期间，接受了247例甲状腺病例的远程细胞学（TC）分析。由细胞技术专家在AHG的Atakent医院进行了快速的现场评估，并对其进行了扫描。同一天。对于每种情况，都存在Diff-Quik和Papanicolaou染色的FNA涂片。使用3DHISTECH全玻片扫描仪将每个玻片在1焦Z平面中以×40放大倍率数字化。结果共检索到257个甲状腺FNA标本，其中25个进行了组织学随访。样本被分类为：3％为非诊断性，良性为74％，非典型意义的非典型性/非典型意义的毛囊病变为13％，滤泡性肿瘤/滤泡性肿瘤为3％，恶性为4％，恶性为3。 ％。当仅将“可疑恶性”和“恶性”类别视为阳性测试时，使用TC诊断的细胞学敏感性和特异性为100％。结论我们的数据表明TC适合于在日常常规细胞学实践中提供初步诊断。尽管取得了令人鼓舞的结果，但由于将TC用于主要诊断的新颖性，仍然存在一些挑战。