Openhi: Open platform for histopathological image annotation

Consolidating semantically rich annotation on digital histopathological images known as whole-slide images requires a software capable of handling such type of biomedical data with support for procedures which align with existing pathological protocols. Demands for large-scale annotated histopathological datasets are on the raise since they are needed for developments of artificial intelligence techniques to promote automated diagnosis, mass screening, phenotype-genotype association study, etc. This paper presents an open platform for efficient collaborative histopathological image annotation with standardised semantic enrichment at a pixel-level precision named OpenHI (Open Histopathological Image). The framework’s responsive processing algorithm can perform large-scale histopathological image annotation and serve as biomedical data infrastructure for digital pathology. Its web-based design is highly configurable and could be extended to annotate histopathological image of various oncological types. The framework is open-source and fully documented.