High-resolution digital image processing in the analysis of pathological materials

1. A method of ascertaining diagnostic information concerning a pathological specimen over a network, comprising:

• a) providing a microscopical, histopathological specimen of a first tissue from a patient;
  
  b) transmitting over a network a first digitized image of the histopathological specimen of the first tissue to a central location comprising an external database of known digitized information generated from images of pathological and normal specimens;
  
  c) receiving diagnostic information over the network from the central location concerning the histopathological specimen,d) comparing the first digitized image to the external database of known digitized information to ascertain diagnostic information about the first digitized image;
  
  1) the diagnostic information of step c) being determined from a digital computer analysis performed by an image pattern recognition software program, using artificial intelligence, wherein the artificial intelligence comprises driven image recognition, and wherein the image pattern recognition software program compares the first digitized image of the histopathological specimen of step b) to the database of the known digitized information generated from images of pathological and normal specimens,2) the digital computer analysis of step d1) comprisingi) a digital assessment comparing a morphological feature of the histopathological specimen of the first tissue to the database of the known digitized information generated from images of pathological and normal specimens; and
  
  ii) outputting a result of the comparison of step i);
  
  wherein the outputted result of step d2ii) comprises the diagnostic information; and
  
  wherein the diagnostic information received in step c) and determined in steps d1) and d2) is based on a match between the first digitized image of step b) and at least one known digitized image of a second tissue found in the database of known digitized information generated from images of pathological and normal specimens, of someone other than the patient, the second tissue being of a similar type to the first tissue,the diagnostic information selected from the group consisting of a diagnosis, a grade of cellular abnormality, a diagnostic classification, and epidemiological data related to a pathology of the non-cytological pathological specimen;
  
  the related epidemiological data being selected from the group consisting of known disease risk factors, age information, race information, gender information, and probabilistic information; and
  
  e) ascertaining a computer determined diagnosis concerning the pathological specimen, the diagnosis being generated by the image pattern recognition software program and being based on the computer analysis of the diagnostic information generated in steps d1) and d2) over the network.