Microscopic observation of biological specimen smears is the mainstay of diagnostic pathology, as defined by the Digital Pathology Association. Though automated systems for this are commercially available, their bulky size and high cost renders them unusable for remote areas. The research community is investing much effort towards building equivalent but portable, low-cost systems. An overview of such research is presented here, including a comparative analysis of recent reports. This paper also reviews recently reported systems for automated staining and smear formation, including microfluidic devices; and optical and computational automated microscopy systems including smartphone-based devices. Image pre-processing and analysis methods for automated diagnosis are also briefly discussed. It concludes with a set of foreseeable research directions that could lead to affordable, integrated and accurate whole slide imaging systems.

中文翻译：

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全玻片成像仪器的最新技术进展

根据数字病理学协会的定义，生物标本涂片的显微镜观察是诊断病理学的主要内容。尽管用于此的自动化系统在商业上可用，但它们体积庞大且成本高，使其无法用于偏远地区。研究界正在投入大量精力来构建等效但便携的低成本系统。此处概述了此类研究，包括对最近报告的比较分析。本文还回顾了最近报道的自动染色和涂片形成系统，包括微流体装置；以及光学和计算自动化显微镜系统，包括基于智能手机的设备。还简要讨论了用于自动诊断的图像预处理和分析方法。