Digital Pathology
Digital pathology is an image-based information environment that is enabled by computer technology to allow for the management of information generated from a digital slide. It is enabled in part by virtual microscopy, which is the practice of converting glass slides into digital slides that can be viewed, managed, and analyzed on a computer monitor. With the advent of whole-slide imaging, the field of digital pathology has exploded and is currently regarded as one of the most promising avenues of diagnostic medicine to achieve even better, faster and cheaper diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of cancer and other important diseases.
Digital pathology also holds the promise of interconnecting pathologists around the globe in ways that will advance diagnostic accuracy and improve patient outcomes.
In pathology, trained pathologists look at tissue slides under a microscope. The tissue on those slides may be subjected to staining to highlight structures. When those slides are digitized, they then have the potential to be numerically analyzed using computer algorithms. Algorithms can be used to automate the manual counting of structures, or for classifying the condition of tissue such as is used in grading tumors.
This could reduce human error and improve accuracy of diagnoses. Digital slides are also, by nature, easier to share than physical slides. This increases potential for using data for education and consultations between two or more experts.
In April, the US Food and Drug Administration approved for marketing the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution (PIPS), the first whole slide imaging (WSI) system that allows for review and interpretation of digital surgical pathology slides prepared from biopsied tissue. It was the first time the FDA permitted the marketing of a WSI system for these purposes.
Thus the high cost of implementing this technology is slowing adoption of these systems by smaller private pathology groups. It is estimated that around 1,000 pathology labs worldwide own and use digital pathology systems on a regular basis.
Smaller organizations often believe they must engage in full adoption, which means digitizing all cases and every glass slide, then reading all the images on a monitor. Partial adoption is also possible, though, and new technology is expected to allow smaller pathology groups to go digital via a cloud-based pathologist workflow solution.
Digital Pathology Systems Will Create Opportunities
CEO SUMMARY: Advanced Pathology Associates, a 15-member private pathology group practice, had the distinction of generating data for the clinical study that Philips submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for review of its whole slide imaging system. Following the FDA’s decision t…
Digital Pathology Makes Group More Competitive
CEO SUMMARY: One 15-member pathology group said adopting digital pathology will give it more competitive advantage. Advanced Pathology Associates (APA) in suburban Maryland, was one of four sites that participated in the clinical study of the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution applica…
FDA Clears Digital Path for Primary Diagnosis
CEO SUMMARY: Proponents of digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging achieved a milestone on April 12 when the FDA cleared the Philips digital pathology system for sale in the United States. Now pathologists can use the system to perform primary diagnoses and get paid for those pr…
GE, UPMC Ending Omnyx, Their Digital Pathology Joint Venture
IN RECENT WEEKS, pathology laboratory clients of the Omnyx digital pathology system learned that the joint venture is ending. Company officials tell these customers that their digital pathology systems will continue to receive service. Omnyx was formed in 2008 as a joint venture bet…
Ohio State University Medical Center Inks Pact To Adopt Digital Pathology
CEO SUMMARY: For years, the adoption of digital pathology has lagged behind the predictions of its advocates. That has encouraged one digital pathology company—Inspirata, Inc., of Tampa—to come up with a different business strategy designed to help anatomic pathology labs address the …
Pathologists in China, U.S. Linked By Digital Pathology
CEO Summary: It is one of the first clinical collaborations of this type to be anchored by use of digital pathology. Pathologists at the medical schools of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) are exc…
Digital Pathology Enables UCLA–China Lab Connection
CEO SUMMARY: Digital pathology holds the promise of interconnecting pathologists around the globe in ways that advance diagnostic accuracy and improve patient outcomes. One pioneering digital pathology collaboration involves the pathology departments at the medical schools of the Universi…
Considering Full versus Partial Adoption of Digital Pathology
CEO SUMMARY: Digital pathology is considered to be one of the more disruptive technologies now finding acceptance in anatomic pathology. Since founding Aperio Technologies, Inc., of Vista, California, in 1999, President Dirk G. Soenksen, M.S., M.B.A., has been in the forefront of this imp…
FDA Advisory Panel Convenes To Assess Whole Slide Imaging
Editor’s Note: Guest writer Martin Perry attended the FDA’s advisory panel on digital pathology conducted earlier this month. He is CEO of The Perry Group and has extensive experience in imaging and healthcare. He offers his insights from the FDA proceedings on digital pathology imaging….
Aperio, Cerner Interface Digital Path and Path LIS
CEO SUMMARY: For pathologists watching the market acceptance of digital imaging and digital pathology systems, another milestone has been reached. The nation’s largest health IT companies are beginning to develop interfaces between their anatomic pathology laboratory informatio…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 6 – April 21, 2025
Now that a federal judge has vacated the FDA’s LDT rule, The Dark Report analyzes the judgement and notes the various steps the FDA could take in response. Also, lab testing at pharmacies is proving to be less successful than was once anticipated.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
Lab leaders rely on THE DARK REPORT for actionable intelligence on important developments in the business of laboratory testing. Maximize the money you make-and the money you keep! Best of all, it is released every three weeks!
Sign up for TDR Insider
Join the Dark Intelligence Group FREE and get TDR Insider FREE!
Never miss a single update on the issues that matter to you and your business.