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Diagnostic technology
Diagnostic technology involves tests, assays and equipment that allow clinical labs to diagnose diseases. New diagnostic technologies are currently transforming both infectious disease testing and cancer testing. Rapid molecular tests, for example, make it possible for medical labs to deliver an accurate answer back to a referring physician in just hours—compared to the several days that are required for most long-standing microbiology test procedures.
Even more disruptive technologies include digital pathology and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. 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. Digital pathology 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 in order to achieve even better, faster and cheaper diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of cancer and other important diseases.
MALDI-TOF (matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight) mass spectrometry allows clinical laboratories to identify small aerobic gram-positive bacilli more accurately, faster, and in a more cost-effective manner than ever. It enables the analysis of biomolecules (biopolymers such as DNA, proteins, peptides and sugars) and large organic molecules (such as polymers, dendrimers and other macromolecules), which tend to be fragile and fragment when ionized by more conventional ionization methods.
Even as pathologists are working to develop more sensitive and accurate diagnostic tests for cancer, similar efforts are underway in radiology and imaging. In fact, one research team has developed a self-assembling nanoparticle that can adhere to cancer cells, thus making them visible in MRI scans and possibly eliminate the need for invasive tissue biopsies.
Researchers have developed a self-assembling nanoparticle that targets cancer cells and makes them visible on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The new nanoparticle improves MRI scanning efficacy by “specifically seeking out receptors that are found in cancerous cells,” according to researchers. Were this development to become a reality, it has the potential to alter anatomic pathology’s role in diagnosing cancer.
New & Stefanelli Launch Anatomic Path Venture
CEO SUMMARY: With little fanfare, Aurora Diagnostics, Inc. opened for business last summer. It states that it has already signed acquisition agreements with five different pathology groups. Former AmeriPath executives James C. New and Martin J. Stefanelli are leading Aurora Diagnostics. H…
Pathologist Builds General Path Business From Office Lab
CEO SUMMARY: Doctors Pathology Services in Delaware is successful for two reasons. First it runs the largest pathology lab in the state. But more important, it runs one of the few successful mobile pathology services anywhere. The Mobile Intraoperative Consultation Service(MICS)allows the…
Some Random Insights About LabCorp’s Thinking
CEO SUMMARY: Having scooped up a number of mid-sized laboratory companies in recent years, Laboratory Corporation of America is working to integrate these operations and continue to expand its market share. In a recent conversation with financial analyst Bill Bonnello of Wachovia Securiti…
Supremes Rule Against LabCorp On Test Patent
CEO SUMMARY: It’s a bad news/good news outcome for pathologists and lab administrators hoping for clearer guidance on patents granted for DNA and other diagnostic technology. The bad news is that LabCorp gets no relief from lower court rulings that it infringed patents on homocysteine t…
Conference Speeches Offer Useful Insights
CEO SUMMARY: There is an interesting dichotomy between Asia and North America. The same problems and challenges exist in both regions—declining reimbursement and budgets, labor force issues, and the need to spend more for new diagnostic technology. Yet laboratories in both regions see a…
May 1, 2006 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Lots of news unfolding across the lab industry. Here’s a round-up of recent and noteworthy items: NEW VENTURES • Persistent rumors indicate that a new national ana…
Luminex and PerkinElmer Ink Licensing Agreement
CEO SUMMARY: PerkinElmer’s interest in the multiplex capabilities of Luminex’s xMap technology led to this new licensing agreement. PerkinElmer’s instrument systems played a major role in accelerating the work of the Human Genome Project. Now, besides bioresearch applications, Perki…
Congressional Bill Introduced On Cytology Proficiency Testing
THERE’S A NEW CHALLENGE to the near-monopoly on cytology proficiency testing held by Midwest Institute of Medical Education(MIME) of Indianapolis, Indiana. Last Friday, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) announced a new bill in the House of Representatives…
For Quest and LabCorp, The Story is “Molecular”
CEO SUMMARY: Wall Street likes the potential of molecular diagnostics to infuse new revenues and operating profits into the laboratory industry. That is one reason Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and Laboratory Corporation of America are assertively seeking exclusive access to new molecula…
Patient ABNs Can Save On Expensive Send-outs
CEO SUMMARY: Throughout the United States, the growing number of high-priced, patent-protected specialty tests is eating into the laboratory budgets of many hospitals. At Hospital Consolidated Laboratories in Southfield, Michigan, this budget-busting threat triggered an innovative respons…
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.
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