Główne pojęcia
The EMPAIA initiative addressed the challenges of integrating AI solutions into routine pathology practice by developing technical interoperability standards, recommendations for AI testing and product development, and explainability methods to increase trust and acceptance.
Streszczenie
The EMPAIA initiative was established to promote the ecosystem for AI in pathology by addressing issues of digitalization, standardization, legal and regulatory requirements, and billing. The key objectives were:
Specify open interfaces for interoperable AI apps in pathology, taking into account requirements of different vendors.
Collaborate with diverse pathology labs ("reference centers") to evaluate and obtain practical feedback on the EMPAIA developments.
Support AI vendors by open-source reference implementations of the interfaces and by recommendations on product development and regulatory affairs.
Develop explainable AI (XAI) approaches specifically for pathologists.
Transfer knowledge and facilitate exchange between all stakeholders.
The EMPAIA platform provides a modular and open-source architecture that demonstrates how the different systems of the laboratory IT infrastructure can be integrated effectively to enable the use of AI. The EMPAIA App Interface is an open and vendor-neutral standard for integrating AI solutions into pathology software systems.
The collaboration with reference centers allowed pathologists to gain experience with AI and provided valuable user feedback for improving individual apps and the overall integration. Explainability was a key focus, addressing the needs of different stakeholders like pathologists, app developers, and decision-makers.
To support regulatory approval, EMPAIA provided recommendations for creating suitable test datasets and initiated a validation service where AI vendors can have their apps tested against independent datasets. The EMPAIA Academy offered workshops and courses to deepen the shared knowledge of digital pathology among medical experts and AI developers.
The EMPAIA initiative has laid important groundwork for the widespread adoption of AI in routine pathology practice. The newly-founded non-profit EMPAIA International association will continue these efforts to drive forward standardization, support broad implementation, and advocate for an AI-assisted digital pathology future.