Accessing high-quality, open-access dermatopathology image datasets for learning and cross-referencing is a common challenge for clinicians and dermatopathology trainees. To establish a comprehensive open-access dermatopathology dataset for educational, cross-referencing, and machine-learning purposes, we employed a hybrid workflow to curate and categorize images from the PubMed Central (PMC) repository. We used specific keywords to extract relevant images, and classified them using a novel hybrid method that combined deep learning-based image modality classification with figure caption analyses. Validation on 651 manually annotated images demonstrated the robustness of our workflow, with an F-score of 89.6% for the deep learning approach, 61.0% for the keyword-based retrieval method, and 90.4% for the hybrid approach. We retrieved over 7,772 images across 166 diagnoses and released this fully annotated dataset, reviewed by board-certified dermatopathologists. Using our dataset as a challenging task, we found the current image analysis algorithm from OpenAI inadequate for analyzing dermatopathology images. In conclusion, we have developed a large, peer-reviewed, open-access dermatopathology image dataset, DermpathNet, which features a semi-automated curation workflow.
@article{arxiv.2601.19378,
title = {Establishing dermatopathology encyclopedia DermpathNet with Artificial Intelligence-Based Workflow},
author = {Ziyang Xu and Mingquan Lin and Yiliang Zhou and Zihan Xu and Seth J. Orlow and Shane A. Meehan and Alexandra Flamm and Ata S. Moshiri and Yifan Peng},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.19378},
year = {2026}
}