Why display choice is crucial for confidence in digital pathology

Why do medical-grade displays stand apart?

 

As laboratories continue adopting digital pathology, display performance is becoming a more important, though often underestimated part of the diagnostic workflow. A comparative study conducted by IQVIA Laboratories, ADC Therapeutics and Barco examined three display categories – medical-grade, professional-grade and consumer-grade – and found a clear advantage for the medical-grade option.

 

Medical-grade displays are designed to maintain image consistency through features such as automated luminance and colour calibration, stabilisation over time, high resolution and broad colour reproduction. For pathologists who need to identify subtle patterns, particularly in complex or borderline cases, those capabilities matter. Professional- and consumer-grade displays typically do not include the same level of built-in calibration and quality assurance needed for dependable long-term use.

 

Digital pathology progress puts display performance in focus

 

By allowing pathologists to assess whole slide images on screen, digital pathology supports remote collaboration and easier integration with computational tools. But dependable outcomes rely on more than scanners and software alone – the display used for reviewing images also plays a direct role in diagnostic confidence.

To assess both diagnostic confidence and user experience, the study compared a medical-grade display with a professional-grade display and a consumer-grade display. Two board-certified pathologists reviewed 19 H&E slides and 19 immunohistochemistry (IHC) slides across the three display types.

 

Study outcome: medical-grade displays led on accuracy and image quality

 

Each display delivered usable performance, but the medical-grade display was the only one to reach perfect concordance (100 per cent) with conventional microscopy for H&E slides, the stain used most often in practice. The professional-grade and consumer-grade displays trailed behind, with concordance levels between 85 and 95 per cent.

“The medical-grade display also received the most favourable evaluations from the board-certified pathologists, with excellent brightness and colour fidelity,” said the report. “The cellular details and staining characteristics of the medical-grade display were described as crisp and sharp, and no pixelation was observed.”

By comparison, the pathologists rated the consumer-grade display less favourably, especially for colour reproduction and for how clearly they could see fine cellular detail.

 

Clinical relevance: maintaining trust, consistency and safety

 

“These findings reinforce the importance of using clinically validated display systems equipped with automated calibration and quality assurance mechanisms to ensure consistent diagnostic performance over time,” said the report.

 

With digital pathology playing a larger role in remote and distributed workflows, defining minimum display performance requirements becomes increasingly important to support patient safety and strengthen clinical confidence.

 

Display quality deserves a central place in digital pathology strategy

 

Overall, the study shows that although all three displays could support review, medical-grade displays offered the strongest performance and the closest alignment with conventional microscopy.

 

“Medical-grade displays often include integrated quality assurance mechanisms such as real-time luminance stabilisation and automated calibration,” said the report. “International guidelines from organisations such as the European Society of Digital and Integrative Pathology, the Royal College of Pathologists and the College of American Pathologists underscore the importance of display quality in ensuring diagnostic equivalence with conventional microscopy.”

 

For pathology teams and laboratory leaders, display selection should be treated as an essential part of the digital pathology environment – one that helps technology enable, rather than constrain, diagnostic excellence.

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Learn more in Barco’s webinar on display expectations in digital pathology

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