© 2000 Journal of Clinical Pathology
Millennial review
Future directions in quantitative pathology: digital knowledge in diagnostic pathology
1 Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
Correspondence to:
Dr Bartels email: peter@catalina.opt-sci.arizona.edu
Introduction
The ancient Pythagorean philosophers believed in numbers. Numbers were the key to an understanding of the world and—because they were eminently practical people—to prosperity. As we enter the information age we hold similarly strong beliefs in the benefits of digital technology: numerical representation offers objectivity, discreteness, permanence, analytic evaluation. There has always been the explicit hope that quantification of knowledge in histopathology will eventually lead to better medical practice. It is not an unfounded hope. The introduction of quantitative micromorphometric procedures to diagnostic histopathology has shown the potential of information technology based methods. There is the value of objective mensuration with the prospect of standardisation of diagnostic assessment. There is the ability to establish the significance of small and early alterations. There is the proven ability to extract diagnostic information that is not reliably recognised by visual microscopic assessment. There is the ability to measure rapidly, in numerical terms, the
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