Super resolution of histopathological frozen sections via deep learning preserving tissue structure

Abstract: Histopathology plays a pivotal role in medical diagnostics. In contrast to preparing permanent sections for histopathology, a time-consuming process, preparing frozen sections is significantly faster and can be performed during surgery, where the sample scanning time should be optimized. Super-resolution techniques allow imaging the sample in lower magnification and sparing scanning time. In this paper, we present a new approach to super resolution for histopathological frozen sections, with focus on achieving better distortion measures, rather than pursuing photorealistic images that may compromise critical diagnostic information. Our deep-learning architecture focuses on learning the error between interpolated images and real images, thereby it generates high-resolution images while preserving critical image details, reducing the risk of diagnostic misinterpretation. This is done by leveraging the loss functions in the frequency domain, assigning higher weights to the reconstruction of complex, high-frequency components. In comparison to existing methods, we obtained significant improvements in terms of Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) and Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), as well as indicated details that lost in the low-resolution frozen-section images, affecting the pathologist's clinical decisions. Our approach has a great potential in providing more-rapid frozen-section imaging, with less scanning, while preserving the high resolution in the imaged sample.