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Cervix Pathology For Medical Students: Morphing‐Based Animation
Author(s) -
King Thomas Scott,
Nelson Erin,
Sharma Ramaswamy
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.02215
Subject(s) - dysplasia , colposcopy , histopathology , morphing , medicine , cervix , pathology , cervical cancer , computer science , cancer , artificial intelligence
Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in US women, resulting in approximately 4,000 deaths per year. Preventative screening of women will be part of the future clinical practices of many of our medical students. Therefore, microscopic examination of cervical pathology is an important component of histopathology teaching laboratories. Traditionally, students examine the normal cervical structure, including the transformation zone within which most cervical squamous cell carcinomas arise. Presentation of these topics may be typically incongruous in that normal and abnormal are taught sequentially but as separate topics and in two‐dimensional formats ( i.e ., histopathology micrographs). It is all too often incumbent on the student to “connect the dots”, and conceptualize the progress from the normal exocervix to metaplasia, dysplasia and ultimately neoplasia, within the “transformation zone”. Visualization of this process is not always well‐understood by all students. We hypothesized that students will assimilate pathological processes more quickly and effectively when these are viewed in transition, that is, by “morphing” from one stage of development to the next. We utilized morphing software to animate a series of drawings of preadolescent to post‐adolescent cervix with eversion and development of the transformation zone (squamous metaplasia). The three‐dimensional animations continued through dysplastic and neoplastic development. The video included colposcopic images of the transformation zone, and demonstrated findings of ectropion, dysplasia and neoplasia in the cervical surface. Morphing sequences were created using software that calculated multiple transitions by the processes of warping and cross‐dissolving between corresponding frames and generated an output movie by using a single intermediate morph from each pair along the sequence. Images were processed as three‐dimensional signals with third‐dimension being time. The resultant animated and morphing video was disseminated as AVI movie format for Windows applications, as animated GIF and Flash animation for WEB pages and PowerPoint presentations or to QuickTime format for Mac computers. The video is currently an integral component of the curriculum for second year students at our university and has been very well‐received by these students in each of the last two years. Analysis of the effectiveness of the video in facilitating learning is ongoing over a two‐year period. We are currently comparing two study groups of students using a self‐paced, formative assessment quiz to evaluate the student’s understanding of the cervical transformation zone and its clinical significance. Participating students are also asked to complete a brief survey addressing the overall usefulness of the video and perceived effectiveness of the video in gaining understanding of cervical transformation zone and its clinical importance.