Table 2

 Comparison between manual and automated screening of sections of breast cancer SLN

ManualAutomated (supervised)
*Most of the hands on time relates to the preselection of cells from the digitally stored images; the time spend by the pathologist for cytopathological confirmation is very small.
H&E, haematoxylin and eosin; IHC, immunohistochemistry; SLN, sentinel lymph node.
StainingH&E or IHCIHC
Sensitivity to detect micrometastasesLow to moderateHigh
Hands on time/section30–60 sec1 min*
Costs of hardware20 k$100 k$
Digital documentationNoYes
Fun factorLowHigh
Fatigue factorHighLow
ReproducibilityGoodVery good