The Emergence of Pathomics

Abstract

Purpose of Review: Our goal is to provide an overview of machine learning methods and artificial intelligence in digital pathology image analysis. We also highlight novel visualization tools to interpret quantitative image-based pathomics data that is extracted from whole slide images to describe diverse phenotypic characteristics of cancer in a spectrum of tissues. Recent Findings: Image analysis of tissues is based on the identification and classification of tissue, architectural elements, cells, nuclei, and other histologic features. We report emerging digital pathology image analysis applications to study several types and subtypes of cancer to complement traditional histopathologic evaluation. Summary: WSIs typically contain hundreds of thousands to millions of objects within a heterogeneous histologic landscape. Therefore, Pathomics represents an incredibly powerful emerging approach to classify cellular interactions and signaling by identifying relevant spatial relationships. The quantification of the intrinsic variability of different phenotypes and behavior in cancer is useful in analyzing and predicting clinical outcomes and treatment response.