Digital imaging guidelines for pathology: a proposal for general and academic use.

Digital imaging is an inexpensive and widely available tool that is used by most pathologists in patient reports, education, publication, diagnosis, and data archival. Its popularity is due, in part, to the ease of modifying, storing, enhancing, and annotating images. Since digital manipulation is essentially undetectable in the final product, it poses the potential risk for fraudulent manipulation and heightens the possibility of unintentional misrepresentation. In an attempt to ensure a high degree of uniformity and quality, and to create a professional standardization amongst pathologists, digital imaging guidelines are proposed for use in general and academic practice.