scanning
Digital Pathology Systems Gear Up for Prime Time
Digital Pathology
Simply put, digital pathology is the utilization of digital photography to capture images on microscope slides. In the past (the early 1990s), there were a number of technical problems with digital imaging of anatomic pathology samples. Digital cameras captured the microscope slide images and stored them. However, the resolution of the digital photographs was not competitive with microscope optics and storage space was limited. A massive amount of data storage was required if the images of an entire microscope slide were to be archived. In addition, the task of capturing the entire microscope slide contents was time-consuming and laborious.
Dick Soenksen, CEO of digital pathology company Aperio Technologies, Inc., believes there are four requirements for effective digital pathology systems. They are:
1. Scanning ability.
2. Software to manage digital slides. In digital radiology they are called PACS (picture archiving and communication systems).
3. Information management systems.
4. The ability to perform image analysis on the digital slides.
Aperio Technologies, Inc.
If there is a leader in digital pathology systems–and it’s not clear that there is one–Aperio is probably it. Their headquarters is in Vista, California, with a European office in Bristol, U.K. Dick Soenksen, CEO of Aperio, says, “We are focused on digital pathology. That’s the only thing we do and it’s the only thing we’ve ever done. From our perspective, digital pathology is managing the information that’s generated by being able to digitize entire slides.”
One of the more interesting components of Aperio is their Digital Slide Scanning Service. Rather than invest in a system, the pathologist can ship their slides to Aperio and the company will use the ScanScope Scanner to digitize the slides, which are then returned along with a CD or DVD or via Internet access. Although the digital pathology market’s goal is undoubtedly to have all pathologists, labs, and hospitals using their technology in-house, this is a potential way to get pathologists to digitize early.
BioImagene
Cupertino, California-based BioImagene focuses on imaging systems for life sciences and digital pathology solutions. Mohan Uttarwar, President and CEO of BioImagene, says that their core competencies are, “The digitization of microscope slides, bringing in high-resolution image management, searching, mining of imaging data, and image analysis. Finally, the power of the Internet can be used to manage information, whether it’s a clinical report, educational content, peer reviews–formal or informal–or second opinions. All these pieces put together are something we as a company have focused on.”
Uttarwar cites four issues that are slowing adoption.
1. Lack of standardization.
2. Psychology, or resistance on the part of pathologists.
3. Ease of use and high quality.
4. Pricepoint.
Psyche Systems Corporation
Psyche Systems (Milford, MA) is not a digital pathology company per se, but a laboratory information system. They offer a number of different solutions for information management in a variety of laboratory areas, including anatomic pathology. Their AP solution is called the WindoPath Anatomic Pathology Information System, which has a modular, customizable design and can be integrated into several different laboratory information systems.
MIMvista Corporation
Based in Cleveland, Ohio, MIMvista recently made the news–somewhat contrary to Psyche’s comments about PocketPath–because of their development of a pathology imaging system specifically for Apple’s iPhone. MIM stands for Multi-modality Imaging, which has its roots in a digital radiology system dubbed Fusion.
Omnyx
As mentioned earlier, in June 2008, GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center entered into a joint agreement to start a digital pathology device company called Omnyx. Omnyx will be headquartered in Pittsburgh and also have a site in Piscataway, NJ, in addition to facilities in Israel and in Albany, New York. As yet, Omnyx does not have an actual product, although they plan to have a prototype device developed by the end of 2008 and expect to launch a product in 2010. Gene Cartwright, CEO of Omnyx says, “We believe it will be a little less than two years before we have a product. I think that we’ll be able to describe it in high level detail by the end of this year, but it’s the sort of product that needs FDA approval and that adds a certain amount of time to it.”
Cartwright believes the reason the field of digital pathology is receiving so much interest at the moment is that some of the technical hurdles are close to being solved. “The main ones are speed of acquisition of an image, quality of the image, ability to navigate around the image without having to wait for the image to come up, and then the ability to stream images. The cost of storage has dropped by 30 to 40 percent a year.”
Educational Use
John Woosley, MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, notes an increased use of digital slides in medical education. He sees it as an opportunity for medical schools to cooperate and share teaching materials, primarily because once a slide has been scanned, it costs nothing to duplicate
Conclusion
As noted, pathology is one of the last areas of clinical medicine to become digitized, following radiology and cardiac imaging. Typically the domain of microscope companies like Nikon, Zeiss and Olympus, a number of small companies have entered the market with new optics technology and digital information management software.
Although a number of companies and researchers have approached digital pathology over the last ten to fifteen years, they were hampered largely by the difficulty of acquiring high-resolution images of the entire microscope at high enough quality to be clinically useful. As digital image capture technology improved along with increased digital storage capacity at lower prices, digital pathology may have reached a tipping point where the technology is available at a reasonable cost.
It’s not clear how large that market may actually be. Omnyx’s Cartwright says, “The assumption is the market will adopt digital pathology at the same rate that digital radiology was adopted. So in several years we believe–and at the price points we’re assuming the market will support–that the market will be worth about $2 billion.”
Aperio’s Soenksen is more optimistic. “We’ve looked at the market and we’ve made a hypothetical full-adoption in the market and say it’s close to $4 billion a year. That’s about twice the size of what GE had in their analysis. We see more value in digital diagnosis that could be applied to automate things that pathologists are currently spending time on.”
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Top Careers with a Health Care Degree
Phlebotomy Technician- It is one of the few professions in the health care industry where you may require working in a team along with physicians, laboratory staff and nurses. Your primary role may include collecting blood for accurate and reliable laboratory testing. Adding to this, at times you may even require performing duties like processing of laboratory specimens and safety compliance. Today it is one of the most demanding professions and expected to boom proportionately along with the growth of laboratory tests and population.
Medical Assistant- This is yet another growing career in the heath care industry that has actually gained enough recognition in the last few years. Today almost every major cities and health care facilities are in constant need of medical assistants and in the next few years this need is expected to increase at a double rate. Working as a medical assistant you may require performing routine clerical and clinical duties in order to maintain efficiency in offices of physicians, podiatrists, and others. No doubt, it can also be the perfect career for all those who like working side-by-side with allied health professionals as part of the inter-disciplinary team.
Electrocardiograph or EKG Technician- It is very different to any other medical profession where you may require performing EKG tests on patients under the supervision of a physician. As an electrocardiograph technician you may even require to conduct tests on pulmonary or cardiovascular systems of patients for diagnostic purposes. In addition to running these tests, you are also accountable for conducting or assisting in electrocardiograms, cardiac catheterizations, and similar tests. Usually, as a EKG technician you may require working under the direction of a cardiologist and at times may provide training to your juniors or new technicians.
Surgical Technician- Earning a health care degree in surgical technology can help you make a career as a surgical technician. The degree may help you learn all the skills required before or during an operation. Working as a surgical technician you could be the important member of a team whose prime duty would be to help surgeons in the operating room during surgery. Though, hospitals might be the primary work setting for you, but in next few years a rapid growth rate is expected in physician offices or outpatient care centers.
Radiologic Technician- This is one of the most demanding and all time most favorite career options that pull the attention of many youths every year. Working as a radiology technician, you may require dealing with the patient directly and manage the machinery that is primarily used in generating the medical images needed by the doctor. In addition to this, you are also accountable for maintaining patient records and conducting related clerical duties associated to the office machinery you generally use for patient testing. The key feature that makes this career special is that once you become a radiology technician you may advance your job profile by becoming radiology specialists, performing CT scanning and magnetic resonance imaging.
Today no doubt, healthcare industry is defined as one of the largest industries in the United States. Though making a career in this industry has numerous challenges, but it even provides rewards that can be beyond any comparison to other industries.
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Radiology Pacs Makes Digital Imaging Possible At Your Medical Office
In days past, you would take images using film. The films would have to be developed using costly chemicals. The images would need to be carefully handled and stored in large storage rooms, requiring medical staff to maintain the records, file them and retrieve them. Over time, film could become damaged and the picture could degrade. The images could be completely lost in the case of a fire or flood. These are all reasons why so many hospitals and medical offices are making the switch to Radiology PACS. With dicom pacs, the patient images are now all digital, and can be viewed using a personal computer that you already have at your office. Digital images can be retrieved through the use of a search feature quickly and easily. These images can also be stored in a fraction of the space once needed, and backup can be done both on and offsite, so that you are safe should disaster strike. A pacs system also allows for more accuracy in imaging. Digital images can be enhanced by using Radiology PACS so that the picture can be cropped or rotated, panned or zoomed, all with the click of a mouse. Brightness and contrast can easily be adjusted, allowing you to see more than you might have ordinarily been able to using traditional film imaging. Radiology PACS also allows you to distribute images easily by using the speed of the Internet.
Digital images can be accessed through a pacs system by authorized personnel from offsite locations anywhere around the world or in your medical office. Digital images can be sent ahead by referring physicians to specialists easily when they are sent via your pacs system. Many offices use a ris pacs system to streamline their patient scheduling and records. Ris pacs connects a radiology information system to the picture archiving system, saving you a great deal of time and effort in processing patients. A ris pacs can help your staff with patient registration and scanning, along with the entry of results and reports that are produced. Patient tracking and results delivery are all accurately accomplished via ris pacs. Smaller clinics may benefit through using mini Radiology PACS. There are web based, all-in-one units that are very budget appropriate for medical offices, chiropractic and orthopedic clinics. Whatever your facility size, Radiology PACS are available that can help you meet all of your digital imaging needs.
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