Advances in computer technology continue to bring new innovations to d
epartments of anatomic pathology. This article briefly reviews the pre
sent status of digital optical imaging, and explores the directions th
at this technology may lead over the next several years. Technical req
uirements for digital microscopic and gross imaging, and the available
options for image archival and retrieval are summarized. The advantag
es of digital images over conventional photography in the conference r
oom, and the usefulness of digital imaging in the frozen section suite
and gross room, as an adjunct to surgical signout and as a resource f
or training and education, are discussed. An approach to the future co
nstruction of digital histologic sections and the computer as microsco
pe is described. The digital technologic applications that are now ava
ilable as components of the surgical pathologist's workstation are enu
merated. These include laboratory information systems, computerized vo
ice recognition, and on-line or CD-based literature searching, texts a
nd atlases and, in some departments, on-line image databases. The auth
ors suggest that, in addition to these resources that are already avai
lable, tomorrow's surgical pathology workstation will include network-
linked digital histologic databases, on-line software for image analys
is and 3-D image enhancement, expert systems, and ultimately, advanced
pattern recognition capabilities. In conclusion, the authors submit t
hat digital optical imaging is likely to have a significant and positi
ve impact on the future development of anatomic pathology.