SecondBlog

Digital Slide Conferencing with SecondSlide

Digital Slide Conferencing is a key capability which makes many things easier; the ability to use computers as a multi-headed microscope where the various heads are at different locations is most powerful.  It facilitates secondary consultations, tumor boards, frozen section interpretation, peer review, overreads, and many teaching applications.

Did you know?  You can use Digital Slide Conferencing with SecondSlide cases!

A key value of SecondSlide is that it enables pathologists at different locations and on different networks to share digital slides and case information.  Combining that capablity with conferencing leads to many useful applications.

Let's walk through an example to show how easy this is*.  First, assume I have shared a case with Dr. Smith.  (Please see Using SecondSlide to share any images with anyone and Using SecondSlide to share cases from Spectrum for more information.)  Now let's say she and I want to review this case together in a conference.

I begin by signing on to SecondSlide and finding the case I've shared in the Shared Cases list:

I click the yellow folder icon to opens the Case Details page for the case.

Next I select the slides I want to review:

I check the boxes next to the slides I want, and click View Images.  ImageScope opens with the slides displayed*:

So far this has all been me reviewing slides for a case.  Now we start the conference.  I select View | Digital Slide Conferencing and get this dialog box:

I click the DSC Server... button to display this dialog:

I leave the defaults of dsc.scanscope.com and port 80, enter my Screen Name, and click Login.  This logs me into the conferencing server.  Now I click Create Conference to display this dialog:

I enter the name of my conference ("consult with Dr. Smith") and click OK.  This creates a conference and logs me in as the Leader.

Yes, it was that easy!

Now Dr. Smith can join the conference.  She launches ImageScope* on her computer - miles away in another city - and selects View | Digital Slide Conferencing:

She clicks the DSC Server... button to display this dialog:

Like me she accepts the defaults of dsc.scanscope.com and port 80, then enters her Screen Name and clicks Login.  She sees the following:

The conference I created is displayed.  She selects it and clicks Join Conference.  She becomes a participate in the conference and the following dialog is displayed:

The conference now has two participants, Dr. Smith and myself.  I am the current leader as shown by the little yellow baton icon. 

At the same time, the two digital slides I was viewing are also opened in Dr. Smith's viewer:

And now we have a digital slide conference!  As I select images, pan, and zoom, she will see everything I see.  I can draw annotations and she'll see them.  I can open new slides and they'll be display for her.  I can also pass Leadership to her, and then she can control the conference, until she passes control back to me.  Pretty cool.

So, Digital Slide Conferencing is a most useful capability, and SecondSlide allows you to share digital slides with others who are not on your network.  The combination of the two is most powerful.  Please try it!

 

*All participants in a conference must have Aperio's ImageScope software installed; you can download it FREE from the Aperio website.

Re-sharing a SecondSlide case

Hi all -

Suppose you have received a case from someone via SecondSlide, and you want to re-share it with someone else.  This is super easy!

First, sign on to SecondSlide (http://secondslide.com):

You will see this page:

Click on Received Cases, and you will see a Case List like this:

Scroll to find the case you want to share, and then click the Case icon (little yellow folder).  You'll see the Case Details like this:

Next click on the Share This Case icon (white envelope).  You will see this page:

Enter a message for the recipient as shown above, and then identify the recipient(s) by their email addresses.  (Note: recipients don't have to be signed up for SecondSlide to receive a case.)  Then click Share Case and that's it!

Happy re-sharing!

 

viewing digital slides on an iPad

One of the questions I'm asked most often about Aperio's viewing technology for digital slides is: can I view digital slides on my iPad?  The answer is YES.  And you don't even need an App, you can simply view the digital slides in the Safari web browser.

SecondSlide makes viewing digital slides anywhere easy, but especially on iPads (and iPhones, and Adroid, RIM, Palm, etc...).  The reason is that often hospitals and labs have two networks, a “public” network available for patients and visitors which is outside the hospital firewall, as well as a “private” network used by doctors and staff for hospital business inside the firewall.  Typically digital pathology scanners and servers are inside the firewall, but you have to access slides via the “public” network in order to view them on your iPad.  By uploading the slides to SecondSlide, they are moved to a secure location “in the cloud”, and can be accessed from outside the firewall (after an authenticated logon).

The diagram above illustrates the way SecondSlide facilitates viewing digital slides from outside a hospital or lab network.  This is especially important to support mobile devices like iPads!

You can use the Juan Rosai collection posted on SecondSlide to try this now!

Using SecondSlide to share cases from Spectrum

Hi all.  The other day we talked about Using SecondSlide to share any images with anyone.  Today I want to talk about Using SecondSlide to share cases from Spectrum, Aperio's sophisticated digital slide management system.  Again, we're going to do this step-by-step, if you have Spectrum please follow along and really do this.

First, signon to your Spectrum system, and select a case you want to share.  You might want to list all cases and pick from the list, like this:

(that's Spectrum R11, isn't it beautiful?)

You can also use Spectrum's search capabilities to find a case.  Either way, you select a case, and the Case Details page is displayed:

If you scroll down the Case Details page, you'll see all the slides for all the specimens in the case, something like this:

In this case there is one specimen with seven digital slides.

Now to share this case with someone via SecondSlide, click the Share on SecondSlide button.  It's just below all the case information, shown circled in red below:

After you've clicked on this button, you'll be asked to sign on to SecondSlide, like this:

Enter your email address and password to sign on to SecondSlide.  If you haven't signed up for SecondSlide, no problem, just click the Sign Up link and you'll be walked step-by-step through the process.  (Please see the Using SecondSlide to share any images with anyone post for details.)

Next you'll see the following page:

At the top you can type in any Message for Recipients you'd like, to tell them why you're sharing this case.  In the Recipients  field you can type one or more email addresses, of the people with whom you'd like to share this case.  Recipients need not have signed up for SecondSlide, and do not have to install any software.

Next click the Share Case button.  That's it!  You've shared the case.

You will see a bunch of messages displayed as Spectrum copies the case information to SecondSlide, something like this:

At this point all the digital slides for the case will be transferred to SecondSlide in the background, you can continue working and do other things.  The transfer typically takes 10-20 minutes per slide.

When the transfers have been completed you will be notified via email, and each recipient will receive an email telling them the case has been shared:

To view the shared case, they simply have to click on the link in the email.  If they haven't yet signed up for SecondSlide, they will be automatically signed up as they view the case.

Pretty simple, huh?  The combination of Spectrum with SecondSlide gives you a simple way to share cases with anyone, for formal or informal consultations, or to share slides of interest with your colleagues and friends.  SecondSlide is secure, HIPAA-compliant, and Free!

Using SecondSlide to share any images with anyone

Hi all; you're going to like this post, because with SecondSlide you can share any images with anyone.  And it's FREE.  We're going to take this step-by-step, please follow along and really do this.  You do not need to install any software.

First, you need an image or two to share.  For this test you can use any images at all, whole-slide images, photomicrographs, or pictures of your kids.  Typically whole-slide images will be in SVS, TIFF, or JP2 format, but they could be NDPI or MRXS.  No problem, they are all supported.  Phtomicrographs are usually JPEG or TIFF, sometimes JP2.  All are okay.  And pictures of your kids are most likely JPEG.

If you'd like here are a couple of test images:

A small digital slide (SVS),

and

a  gross image (JPEG).

Right-click the links and save them to your computer, and you're ready to go.

Note: SecondSlide is designed to deal with the huge whole-slide images used in digital pathology.

Next you need to decide who you're going to send the pictures, it can be anyone who has an email address.  They do not have to sign up ahead of time, or install any software.

Okay, ready?

1. On the SecondSlide home page, click "Sign Up" in the top right corner.  You'll see this:
   
   
   
   
2. Fill in the form with your name and email address, and click Sign Up.  You will see this form:
   
   
   
   
3. You will receive an email from SecondSlide welcoming you to the service.  This email includes a temporary password.  Enter your email address and the temporary password, and click User Login.  You will see this form:
   
   
   
   
4. Enter a new password (in both fields) and click Save.  You'll see a page with the terms and conditions of the SecondSlide service.  There are no hidden fees or weird provisions, we promise!  After you've read this page, go to the bottom and click "I agree".  You will see this page:
   
   
   
   
5. Okay, you're signed up!  (that was pretty painless, right?)  Now let's share some images.  Click on Upload a New Case.  You'll see this page:
   
   
   
   
6. In the Message for Recipients field, you can type any message you'd like to identify the images you are sending.  In this case, you could type "sharing my first case with SecondSlide", or something like that.  Then enter the email address of the person with whom you want to share the images.  You can send the images to more than one person, just separate their email address with a comma.  Remember, the recipients need not have joined SecondSlide yet, you can share with anyone.
   
   Use the check boxes to specify whether you allow receipients to modify the case informaiton, and whether you allow them to re-share the case.  Then click Share Case.  You will see this page:
   
   
   
   
7. In the top of the page, you can specify Case information.  You don't have to enter anything at all, but if you'd like enter as much information as you wish.  You can also enter Specimen information if you'd like.  Please note SecondSlide is secure and HIPAA compliant.
8. Next scroll the page down to the Digital Slide Information, which looks like this:
   
   
   
   
9. Here you identify the slides and images you wish to share.  There can be multiple images for each slide, as well as multiple slides in the case.  To specify the image(s) for the slide, click the Images of Slide button.  You will see the following dialog:
   
    
   
   
   
10. Next select one of more images for the slide on your computer.  As noted above, SecondSlide supports many different kinds of images, including SVS, JPEG, TIFF, JP2, etc.  The images can be large whole-slide images created by a scanner, or smaller photomicrographs made with a camera.  After you have selected the image(s) for this slide, click Open.  If you are using the demo images provided above, select them both.  The page will look like this:
    
    
    
    
11. You will see one line for each image you selected (I selected two in this example).
12. You could add images for another slide to the case being shared by clicking the Add Digital Slide button, but in this example let's say we are only sharing one slide.  Next click Add Case.
13. The images you specified will each be uploaded to SecondSlide.  Depending on the size of the images, this could happen almost instantly, or could take a few mintes.  You will see progress indications as the slides are copied:
    
    
    
    When all the images have been uploaded, you'll see a "Case Successfully Shared" message.
14. That's it, you're done!

Your recipient(s) will receive an email notification that a SecondSlide case has been shared with them.  If they have not already joined SecondSlide, they will be walked through the process, and then they'll be able to view the images you've shared with them.

That's it, you can use SecondSlide to share any images with anyone, for FREE.  And all without installing any software!

Hello second world!

Hi world, how are you!  This is the first post of the SecondBlog, a blog we'd like to use to tell you all about SecondSlide, the Digital Slide Sharing Service for Pathology.  Please visit often for tips and techniques and the latest news about the service.  You can follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our RSS feed.

Please note, we want your comments!  You can give us feedback on changes and tell us what you think about SecondSlide and digital pathology.

Thanks for your attention, and please stay tuned...