Use of automated microscopy for the detection of disseminated tumor cells in bone marrow samples

The use of automated microscopy has reached the maturity necessary for its routine use in the clinical pathology laboratory. In the following study we compared the performance of an automated microscope system (MDS (TM)) with manual method for the detection and analysis of disseminated tumor cells p resent in bone marrow preparations from breast carcinoma patients. The MDS System detected rare disseminated tumor cells among bone marrow mononuclear cells with higher sensitivity than standard manual microscopy. Automated m icroscopy also proved to be a method of high reproducibility and precision, the advantage of which was clearly illustrated by problems of variability in manual screening. Accumulated results from two pathologists who had scre ened 120 clinical slides from breast cancer patients both by manual microsc opy and by use of the MDS System revealed only two (3.8%) missed by the aut omatic procedure, whereas as many as 20 out of 52 positive samples (38%) we re missed by manual screening. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.