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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.
ChromaVision Targets National AP Market
CEO SUMMARY: Three new business strategies are moving ChromaVision into different segments of the laboratory testing marketplace. The company has built a new laboratory facility and will support local pathology groups with advanced diagnostic technology. It is also expanding its presence …
Mayo’s Scottsdale Hospital Lab Hits Big “Lean” Home Runs
CEO SUMMARY: Are Lean and Six Sigma techniques ready to make a big contribution in the laboratories of smaller hospitals? If you ask lab managers at Mayo Clinic’s Scottsdale Hospital, the answer is an unqualified “Yes!” Their 15-week Lean project in the hospital’s high volume core…
Anatomic Path Trends Portend Deep Changes
CEO SUMMARY: Our biannual review of trends shaping the anatomic pathology profession reveals that a wide range of influences are active. The nation’s healthcare system is undergoing fundamental changes in how it views the quality of health services and how it will favor top-performing p…
RFP Secrets To Use When Buying Molecular Tests
CEO SUMMARY: It often takes two to four years before payer coverage and reimbursement become stable. During that time, NorDx Laboratories wants the vendors who sell it new molecular assays to have some “skin in the game.” It accomplishes this by negotiating contracts that link the con…
2003’s Big Lab Stories Reflect Health Trends
CEO SUMMARY: At a minimum, 2003 proved to be a year of relative stability for the laboratory industry, as demonstrated by THE DARK REPORT’S “Ten Biggest Lab Stories of 2003.” The year was free of industry-wide crises and scan- dals. That allowed most laboratory administrators and pa…
Specialty Laboratories, Enterix, Medicare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association
SPECIALTY LABORATORIES REPORTS THIRD QUARTER FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE THIRD QUARTER FINANCIAL REPORTS for Specialty Laboratories, Inc. show that the company is returning to a more normal routine, following the two unusual and unrelated events which hit it during 2002. Special…
No Disruptive Technology In Lab Industry’s Future
CEO SUMMARY: As new diagnostic technologies move through the development pipeline and into widespread clinical use, the scientific knowledge and skill sets needed by laboratory staff and management will change. The emphasis in laboratory medicine will evolve to include more molecular tech…
Looking at Fast-Growth And Slow-Growth Areas In Diagnostic Testing
CEO SUMMARY: This exclusive intelligence briefing predicts how specific new technologies may drive changes in the laboratory-testing marketplace during the next five years. The key message is that change is expected to be incremental, not disruptive—given the technology known to be in d…
AP’s “High & Mighty” Firms Hit Tough Times
CEO SUMMARY: In the years between 1995 and 2002, public companies AmeriPath, DIANON Systems, and IMPATH built revenues and profits at a blistering pace. During this time period, these three firms captured enough market share to do almost $1 billion of anatomic pathology business in 2002. …
Brazil’s Lab Industry Gathers in Rio de Janeiro
CEO SUMMARY: Healthcare in Brazil remains a free market and thousands of clinical laboratories exist to fill the demand. However, there are early indications that commercial laboratories in Brazil may be on the verge of the same tidal wave of lab acquisitions and consolidation that was ex…
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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