AI-Supported Digital Microscopy Diagnostics in Primary Health Care Laboratories:Protocol for a Scoping Review

Background: Digital microscopy combined with artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being implemented in health care,predominantly in advanced laboratory settings. However, AI-supported digital microscopy could be especially advantageous inprimary health care settings, since such methods could improve access to diagnostics via automation and lead to a decreased needfor experts on site. To our knowledge, no scoping or systematic review had been published on the use of AI-supported digitalmicroscopy within primary health care laboratories when this scoping review was initiated. A scoping review can guide futureresearch by providing insights to help navigate the challenges of implementing these novel methods in primary health carelaboratories. Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to map peer-reviewed studies on AI-supported digital microscopy in primaryhealth care laboratories to generate an overview of the subject. Methods: A systematic search of the databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and IEEE will be conducted. Onlypeer-reviewed articles in English will be considered, and no limit on publication year will be applied. The concept inclusioncriteria in the scoping review include studies that have applied AI-supported digital microscopy with the aim of achieving adiagnosis on the subject level. In addition, the studies must have been performed in the context of primary health care laboratories,as defined by the criteria of not having a pathologist on site and using simple sample preparations. The study selection and dataextraction will be performed by 2 independent researchers, and in the case of disagreements, a third researcher will be involved.The results will be presented in a table developed by the researchers, including information on investigated diseases, samplecollection, preparation and digitization, AI model used, and results. Furthermore, the results will be described narratively toprovide an overview of the studies included. The proposed methodology is in accordance with the JBI methodology for scopingreviews. Results: The scoping review was initiated in January 2023, and a protocol was published in the Open Science Framework inJanuary 2024. The protocol was completed in March 2024, and the systematic search will be performed after the protocol hasbeen peer reviewed. The scoping review is expected to be finalized by the end of 2024. Conclusions: A systematic review of studies on AI-supported digital microscopy in primary health care laboratories is anticipatedto identify the diseases where these novel methods could be advantageous, along with the shared challenges encountered andapproaches taken to address them. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/58149