Objectives/Aims:

The application of virtual microscopy (VM) to research, pre-doctoral medical and dental educational training, and diagnostic surgical and anatomic pathology is well-documented but its application to the field of oral and maxillofacial pathology has not been explored. This is the first study to evaluate the enthusiasm and readiness of US-/Canada-based oral and maxillofacial pathology (OMFP) residents toward employing VM use over conventional microscopy (CM) for diagnostic purposes.

Materials and Methods:

All 46 current US-/Canada-based OMFP residents were invited to participate in an anonymous electronic survey via ‘Survey Monkey’ in 2015. The survey comprised sixteen multiple choice questions and two ‘free text’ questions.

Results:

14% of respondents of the 22 (48%) respondents who completed the survey indicated a willingness to substitute CM with VM in <5 years, and 33% within 10 years. 52% reported they would never substitute CM with VM. Approximately 10 and 57% of respondents thought VM will become an acceptable sole diagnostic tool in most centers within 5 and 10 years, respectively. These findings are irrespective of the fact that overall, 90% of respondents reported being familiar with VM use.

Discussion:

VM technology is unlikely to substitute CM in diagnostic oral and maxillofacial histopathology practice among future OMFP practitioners in the foreseeable future.

中文翻译：

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用于组织病理学诊断的虚拟显微镜的新兴范例：美国和加拿大口腔病理学学员的调查

目标/目的：

虚拟显微镜 (VM) 在研究、博士前医学和牙科教育培训以及诊断外科和解剖病理学中的应用已得到充分证明，但尚未探索其在口腔颌面病理学领域的应用。这是第一项评估美国/加拿大口腔颌面病理学 (OMFP) 居民对使用 VM 而非传统显微镜 (CM) 进行诊断的热情和准备情况的研究。

材料和方法：

2015 年，所有 46 名目前居住在美国/加拿大的 OMFP 居民都被邀请参加一项通过“Survey Monkey”进行的匿名电子调查。该调查包括 16 个多项选择题和两个“自由文本”问题。

结果：

在完成调查的 22 名 (48%) 受访者中，14% 的受访者表示愿意在 5 年内用 VM 替代 CM，33% 的受访者在 10 年内表示愿意。52% 的人表示他们永远不会用 VM 代替 CM。大约 10% 和 57% 的受访者认为 VM 将分别在 5 年和 10 年内成为大多数中心可接受的唯一诊断工具。这些发现与总体而言，90% 的受访者表示熟悉 VM 使用这一事实无关。

讨论：

在可预见的未来，VM 技术不太可能在未来 OMFP 从业者的口腔和颌面组织病理学诊断实践中替代 CM。